Training

Church 3.0 Conference with Neil Cole

February 18, 2011, by 3 comments

We will be hosting Neil Cole for a one day conference in Kansas City on Wednesday, March 23rd from 9:00am to 3:30pm. The conference will take place at Westside Family Church. The cost will be $29, which will include lunch.

Neil is an experienced church planter and pastor. He is the founder of the Awakening Chapels, and founder and executive director of Church Multiplication Associates. He is the author of several books including Church 3.0, Organic Church, Search and Rescue, as well as Organic Leadership, and Cultivating a Life for God.

You can register online by going here. If you have questions about the day you can leave a comment or email me at brad.brisco@gmail.com

If you are not familiar with Neil, below is good video from the Verge conference last year where Neil is talking about the church as an organic system and the implications that has on discipleship and church planting.

Neil Cole: Church As A Living System [VERGE 2010 Main Session] from Verge Network on Vimeo.

Alan Hirsch on Cultural Distance & the American Missionary Problem

February 14, 2011, by 3 comments

Below are two very helpful videos presentations by Alan Hirsch from last year’s AND conference at Granger Community Church. The bulk of the first video is spent on the very important topic of cultural distance and the problem it creates for meaningful communication of the gospel. Building upon the cultural distance discussion, he then proceeds to examine the “missionary problem”, of having the majority of American churches attempting to reach the same population segment, that is 95% of churches in America are trying to reach the same 40% of the population.

This leads to what he refers to as the “strategic problem”, which recognizes that 60% of the population has no interest in identifying with the contemporary church that is represented by 95% of the churches. The last several minutes of the presentation is spent in a time of Q&A. When viewing the first video you may want to skip over the the opening song, as well as the goofy skit on the tension between missional and attractional that precedes Alan’s talk.

The second video deals with the five-fold ministry of Ephesians 4. Alan argues that we will never create or sustain a movement until the church recaptures the role of the Apostle, Prophet and Evangelist.

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mQuest Missional Training in Dallas

September 27, 2010, by No comments yet

The next mQuest training event is coming up in Dallas on October 19th with Alan Hirsch. We will be meeting from 9:00am to 4:00pm at the Abilene Christian University Education Center in Irving.

If you are not familiar with mQuest it involves a cohort based learning format where participants will join a small group of like-minded sojourners. There are several unique aspects of mQuest. First, the training begins with a one-day interactive format that will be limited to 30 participants. Additionally, the one-day event will be captured on video so participants can review the material at a later date.

Second, there will be two live webinars where participants can continue to dialog with the main presenter.

Third, there will be on-going online peer learning and coaching provided on the Shapevine platform.

Fourth, the training will be presented in different locations around the country to provide regional networking opportunities, as well as making the training as logistically convenient as possible.

The additional dates and locations include:

November 2, 2010: Nashville with Neil Cole
November 13, 2010: Chicago with Alan Hirsch
December 7, 2010: Philadelphia with Neil Cole
December 13, 2010: Kansas City with Alan Hirsch
January 18, 2011: Nashville with Alan Hirsch
February 23, 2011: Philadelphia with Alan Hirsch
March 14, 2011: Kansas City with Neil Cole
April 5, 2011: Kansas City with Dan Kimball
May 16, 2011: Dallas with Neil Cole
October 12, 2011: Nashville with Dan Kimball

To learn more about mQuest check out the video below, or simply go to the mQuest page at Shapevine. You can also register online at the Shapevine registration page.

Kansas City Missional Church Conference with Reggie McNeal

July 6, 2010, by No comments yet

Mark your calendars for an event coming up this September in Kansas City. We will be hosting a conference titled “Turning the Church Inside/Out” with Reggie McNeal.

The conference will be on Tuesday, September 14th from 9:00am to 5:30pm. McNeal will lead three main sessions focused on helping church leaders understand the cultural shifts taking place in North America and how to best maneuver the necessary missiological and ecclesiological changes. There will be special emphasis on the importance of developing and deploying church members as missionaries in local neighborhoods and work places. There will also be six breakout sessions offered that will assist participants in making personal application in a local context.

The conference fee is only $30, which will also include lunch. For additional information on the conference, including location, lodging and a detailed schedule check out the conference website here. If you have further questions about the conference leave a comment or send me an email at brad.brisco@gmail.com

Announcing mQuest Missional Training

May 18, 2010, by No comments yet

I am very excited to share about a new training opportunity from Shapevine that will be kicking off this summer called mQuest. The Missional Quest series is a cohort based learning journey that will give participants the opportunity to join a small group of like-minded sojourners with training from Alan Hirsch, Dan Kimball, Neil Cole, and others.

There are several unique aspects of mQuest. First, the training begins with a one-day interactive format that will be limited to 30 participants. Additionally, the one-day event will be captured on video so participants can review the material at a later date. Second, there will be two live webinars where participants can continue to dialog with the main presenter. Third, there will be on-going online peer learning and coaching provided on the Shapevine platform. Fourth, the training will be presented in six different locations around the country to provide regional networking opportunities, as well as making the training as logistically convenient as possible.

To learn more about mQuest, including dates and locations go to the mQuest page at Shapevine. You can also check out the mQuest Facebook page here. After viewing the information online if you have further questions shoot me an email or leave a comment.

The Importance of Understanding the Post-Christendom Shift

April 7, 2010, by 8 comments

I attended a half day conference yesterday that dealt with trends that were impacting the American church. It didn’t take long for me to become frustrated with the “list” of trends seeing that it did not include what I believe to be the most crucial “trend” to understand – that being the shift towards a post-Christian culture.

Without a clear understanding that the church in America no longer sits in the dominant seat of culture, the church is totally incapable of making the necessary missiological and ecclesiological changes. Below are two short videos of Michael Frost speaking to the importance of this topic.

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For further study of the post-Christendom shift I still find Stuart Murray’s Post-Christendom: Church and Mission in a Strange New World to be a great resource. For a brief (23 pages) overview of Murray’s work you might also check out this article: christendom-murray.

The Forgotten Ways Training Videos

February 12, 2010, by 1 comment

Most of you that follow this blog are familiar with The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch. It is certainly one of the most significant books in the present missional conversation. If you are not familiar with the book you can read a series of post I did here. I would also highly recommend the more recent The Forgotten Ways Handbook, which I wrote about briefly here.

To move the conversation beyond the written word, and to hear directly from Hirsch himself, check out the training videos created by Lance Ford at Shapevine. The training involves eight sessions, or “podules,” that include an introduction, a session on chaos theory, and a session on each of the six mDNA elements described in The Forgotten Ways. The eight session training is priced at $39.95, however Shapevine is currently running a special which includes the same online training in a DVD format. In other words, you can get instant access to the online training while having the DVDs shipped in the next couple of weeks.

For those of you in the Kansas City area, keep a watch out for the development of some local learning cohort groups as we work through this excellent training together.

Verge: Missional Community Conference

January 11, 2010, by 2 comments

One last reminder for the Verge conference next month in Austin. You will save a couple of bucks if you register today.  I am very excited about the networking opportunities, not to mention the lineup of presenters, including Ed Stetzer, Francis Chan, Alan Hirsch, Neil Cole, George Patterson and Hugh Halter, just to name a few. For complete schedule and registration information go here.

Audio From KC Missional Church Conference

December 1, 2009, by 2 comments

Here are the first two audio presentations from the Kansas City Missional Network Gathering.

In session one, Eric Swanson, author of The Externally Focused Church, shares the characteristics of EF Churches. These characteristics include:

They believe that their communities can’t be healthy without the church.
They believe Christians don’t grow until they begin serving.
They understand the power of service.
They lower the thresholds to service.
They partner with other entities.

Swanson’s presentation is replete with excellent illustrations and examples of churches that are impacting their communities as they learn fresh ways to serve their cities.

In session two, Swanson spends time discussing the crucial importance of combining good deeds (that create good will) with good news.

Verge: Missional Community Conference

November 22, 2009, by 3 comments

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If I had to choose only one conference to attend in 2010 it would be Verge, February 4-6 in Austin. I have the privilege to be a part of the conference social media team, which means I will be blogging/twittering before, during and after the conference. I am very excited about the missional community focus on the conference, along with the stellar lineup of presenters, including Ed Stetzer, Francis Chan, Alan Hirsch, Neil Cole, George Patterson and Hugh Halter, just to name a few. For complete schedule and registration information go here.

I also anticipate this to be a great time of networking with like minded folks. If you plan to attend let me know, I would love to connect while in Austin. I’ll buy the coffee!