Matt Smay

Check out the new promotional video Zondervan just released…

And: The Gathered and Scattered Church Video

If you have a minute, post a comment with your first impressions.

Here’s a preview of the new book cover.  More information coming soon as it’s set to release at Exponential in late April.

One of the biggest challenges facing our culture is the massive amount of debt stifling the freedom of many.

The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

Taken from Proverbs 22:7 (NIV), I’ve found discipleship contexts have become center-place discussions for personal finance and debt. If you’re trapped in debt and don’t know where to start or just want to get free of the lender – here’s a great resource…

A Dept Payoff Plan That Works By Liz Pulliam Weston

I was recently downloading a new update to a program on my computer (won’t mention the culprit), but after about 5 minutes of downloading the following message appeared,
 

Installing – This may take a while…

Have you ever wondered why anything worth doing seems to come with that message? I’ve been reflecting lately on the past few years of ministry and I’m struck by the consistent theme – most of the best stuff has taken a long time to develop. Whether a book, a new training, a new community, or ministry strategy – it often takes years to accomplish something new and innovative. This is not just an idea or concept relegated to the ministry world. I’ve had two girls, and in the midst of each of my wife’s pregnancies, I remember the hurdles – pregnancy test, first heart beats, ultrasound (it’s a girl!), and the long awaited delivery.

You know the deal, whether it’s starting a relationship, finding the perfect job, landing a big opportunity, or starting a new church…it all takes time – usually too much time in my book!

As I look at this year, I’ve been wrestling with a theme. I think it’s going to be centered on ‘love’. Strange theme for a guy like me. Afterall, I like to hunt – with a bow, I never cry, love to rough-it when I camp, I’m the big brother type, the kind of guy that rarely, if ever, shows emotion…But since I take this yearly theme pretty serious, I’ve spent a few months listening to God, keeping attentive to the unique coincidences, and the obvious connections in the day-to-day. Even though I’d rather focus on some attribute like courage, love is the theme I’ve been dealt.

Unfortunately for me, when my mind wanders for even a second, I jump to that familiar scripture, ‘Love is patient…” hope you know the rest because this is as far as I’ve gotten. Seems to me that everything that matters most in my life has been developed over time and has taken a great deal of patience. For me, it has always involved a thorough process of learning and adapting, which has also included some failure and the occasional big success.  Part of my job is to train church planters and coach existing church leaders, and I’m sure the ones reaching their goals would all agree that sticking with it was the hardest struggle. Just a little fair warning, I think starting a missional community or moving an existing church to be more incarnational is one of the hardest things to do, but it’s also one of the most rewarding. I’ve noticed that it’s the front-end investment of time and energy that discourages most in the long journey of  change. For what it’s worth,  I laughed out loud, as  I read, “This may take a while…”