Blog - Page 311 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Great Movements: Control or Co-op?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:24:56-05:00August 11th, 2005|Categories: Emergent Church|

My retreat with the Mars Hill elders ended today. It was a sweet time of building relationships with new friends. I am honored to have served these dear men and their wives. On my flight back to Seattle this afternoon Mark Driscoll and I chatted about a number of things in our personal history. One conversation we shared is hugely important to me.

I am not an advocate of the way my generation has built growing ministries and alliances. Most grow out of the vision and gifting of one hugely successful leader. I have no problem with this reality. The simple fact is that God uses a man or a woman to do his work and often singularly uses visionary type-A people. This success that a leader enjoys may come through a large church, a succesful book (or series of books), or a popular conference ministry, you name it. This will not change. It is the nature of human relationships that leaders who enjoy wide favor for any reason will use that favor to build relationships for a cause or a movement. The […]

The Strength of a Team

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:24:57-05:00August 11th, 2005|Categories: Emergent Church|

As I noted yesterday I am in California on a four day retreat with the elders and staff of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. The three days I have enjoyed to this point have been remarkable. Honestly, I have longed for several decades to see what I am experiencing this week. A group of fourteen men, using very different gifts and personalities, have become a "team" for the sake of Christ’s kingdom. I see no rivalry, I sense no jealousy, and I have found each man committed to one another and to the success of the mission that unites them. It is the kind of chemistry that you see when a team melds into one unit and wins.

What makes this possible begins with an incredibly gifted leader in Mark Driscoll. But I have known incredible leaders before. Mark is different. He is strong, secure and knows he has been given great gifts as well. But he leads in a manner that allows others to enjoy their place in the work, to have real fun doing it, and to share in the […]

Church Planting

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:24:57-05:00August 9th, 2005|Categories: Evangelism|

I am in northern California this week, at a lovely, secluded ranch on the Pacific Ocean called "The Lost Coast." I am here to teach the elders and staff of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. I wrote about Mars Hill in May on this blog spot. It is an "Emergent" style church, though far more doctrinally sharp and clear than many such churches.

In conversation yesterday I learned that in the Acts 29 Network, an outgrowth of the vision of Mark Driscoll who founded Mars Hill, member churches are expected to invest 10% of their monies in church planting right from the start. This principle helps even the smallest church to see that it must plant churches or loose its missional vision. These monies are not given to a central budget nor do they fund huge overhead costs but go directly to planters and groups who are "doing it."

A healthy church clearly has a particular missional element in its DNA. When this type of material is missing in the DNA of a church trouble is on the […]

A Deposit in the Bank of Media Compassion

By John Armstrong|2005-08-05T20:16:42-05:00August 5th, 2005|Categories: Current Affairs|

Former Illinois govenor George Ryan is not just another hack politician trying to use Christianity for his own purposes. Ryan is a master user, a disgusting national role model, a con artist who paints the moral pictures we have come to expect from many of our politicians.

George Ryan is the former Republican governor of Illinoiswho pardoned a whole pacel of death row inmates on his last day in office a few years ago. He wiped out the death penalty by unadulterated fiat, at least for a time. Defending his actions again this week, while speaking in a Methodist Church, Ryan said that he did this because "Jesus told us to love our enemies and to turn the other cheek." Well, thanks George for the lesson in biblical ethics.

George Ryan is scheduled to stand trial this September on federal corruption charges. Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass noted in today’s Tribune that Ryan is "reaching out to just any voter" these days as he tries to impress potential jurors who might sit in judgement on his actions. Says Kass, "He […]

Soulless: More About Hillary Clinton

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:24:57-05:00August 4th, 2005|Categories: Politics|

A people who will to be led poorly will always be led poorly. A corrupt populace will be granted what it wants through the presence of corrupt leaders. These things go almost without saying. When you begin to grasp the mind and core values of Senator Hillary Clinton you soon realize just how corrupt and driven this woman really is. Hillary, being a "gender-feminist," sees relationships and issues as battles. And she is determined to win every battle possible. This is an unmistakably clear point made over and over by Edward Klein in his new book, The Truth About Hillary (New York: Sentinel, 2005).

Klein allows the reader to see privately how the late New York senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan viewed the woman who eventually took his Senate seat. Moynihan was an old school liberal Democrat with honor and class. He was also a noble, decent and highly-regarded man who was loved and respected across the wide partisan divides of Washington.

Klein notes that Moynihan was very often disappointed by how Bill Clinton failed to take good advice. Klein says […]

The Truth About Hillary

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:24:57-05:00August 3rd, 2005|Categories: Politics|

I generally eschew public partisan political debates. (I have lots of private views on these matters). I do not believe such debates directly relate to my vision for renewing church and culture. Don’t misunderstand me. It is not that such debates are unnecessary. It is just that I do not see how I personally have a vital role in them in terms of my ministry. My calling is to apply the Scriptures to the church, and to culture, in ways that allow people of various partisan stances, both Democrats and Republicans, to "hear" the reforming Word that judges us all.

It is because of these ministry commitments that I generally resist talking and writing about Bill and Hillary Clinton. I have read several thousand pages of analysis and biography on Bill, and I have also read hundreds of pages on Hillary. Some of my reviews, of several books, are in print in our Reformation & Revival Journal. I do not "dislike" Bill Clinton. But it is also safe to say that I think the Clintons are a positive harm to American public […]

Moneyball and Life

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:24:57-05:00August 2nd, 2005|Categories: Baseball|

I am a baseball fan. No, make that "I am a huge baseball fan." I have loved the game since I was a small boy when I picked up my first bat and glove. In fact one of my first memories of childhood is playing pitch and catch with my dad in the backyard of my Tennessee home. And also of staying awake late at night with my portable radio in bed listening to the Cincinnati Reds or the St. Louis Cardinals.

I couldn’t hit very well so I never became a really good baseball player. I got hit by a pitched ball when I was very young and no one ever helped me stand back in the box and hit a thrown ball again without some measure of fear about getting hit. So I took what I knew about the game in my head and made it work for me in other ways. Had God not called me to the gospel ministry I think I would have become a sport’s writer and covered baseball for a major newspaper. I like to […]

WalMart or Costco Churches?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:24:57-05:00August 1st, 2005|Categories: The Church|

Can a business earn a fair profit and also take good care of its employees? Or put another way, can a modern cost-saving retail store improve on the WalMart philosophy made so popular throughout America? Apparently the answer, according to the New York Times, is "yes."

A recent article notes that Costco is doing exactly that. Making a good profit but sharing some of the profits with the workers and in the process doing the right thing for more than just their investors. The Times writes:

"Costco’s average pay is $17 an hour, 42 percent higher than its fiercest rival, Sam’s Club. And Costco’s health plan makes those at many other retailers look Scroogish. One analyst, Bill Dreher of Deutsche Bank, complained last year that at Costco ‘it’s better to be an employee or a customer than a shareholder.’ . . . Mr. Sinegal (Costco), whose father was a coal miner and steelworker, gave a simple explanation. ‘On Wall Street, they’re in the business of making money between now and next Thursday . . . we can’t take that view. We want […]

A Kairos Moment?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:24:57-05:00July 29th, 2005|Categories: The Church|

When John Paul II died a few months ago a number of Catholic and non-Catholic theologians and commentators wondered out loud if this was a "kairos" moment for the church. These writers understand a "kairos" moment to be a specific time that becomes decisive in church history. Anthony Figueiredo, former special assistant to the pontiff, believes Rome is in fact going through such a moment. I am personally not convinced but remain open and prayerful.

But what about Protestantism, especially the historic European and North American variety? "Mainline, historic Protestantism seems spiritually and morally almost finished," wrote religion observer Uwe Siemon-Netto in April. And, added the popular Catholic journal New Oxford Review, "Mainline . . . denominations are slowly dying. Let them die a natural death."

Siemon-Netto asks: "Is this true? Will only Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Islam survive the current crisis of faith, as a senior religious affairs adviser to the European Commission predicted some years ago?"

Protestant minister Albrecht Immanuel Herzog argues that the answer is a resolute "No." He believes "the Spirit who is Lord […]

Beware the Ideologues

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:24:58-05:00July 27th, 2005|Categories: Politics|

The ideologues are out in full force these days. These ideologues are visionary theorists who embrace a range of narrowly defined positions with considerable passion. And they are both conservative and liberal. You will see more and more of them as the Senate begins its confirmation hearings on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts in coming weeks. Their rhetoric will be strong, their emotions very high, and their knives carefully sharpened. But they will contribute very little of substance to an important civic discussion that such an event actually warrants.

Ann Coulter, one conservative voice I can personally do without most days, has already suggested that John Roberts is another "stealth nominee," likening him to present Supreme Court judges David Souter, Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O’Connor. And liberals on the far left have also begun their expected attacks on Roberts’ views on abortion. I am convinced John Roberts will rise above this partisan din and be confirmed, maybe quite easily. I hope so.

What fascinates me in this is how much the far left and far right are alike […]