#exponential Hugh Halter INCARNATIONAL EVANGELISM

Hugh got to know a tattooist called Sammy. He’d been in prison 15years. Tough guy. But one day he got quiet and said, ‘I have a gift for you.’ Why You’re one of my favourite people – I love your family You guys are making it hard not to believe. Then he gives him the gift; A bag of marijuana. (Nice!)   We all crave those moments where we move people naturally toward Jesus. It doesn’t just happen. There’s a way of relating to people; INCARNATIONAL EVANGELISM As we incarnate in the world, we get a reputation in the worlds like Jesus And then the conversations end up happening   It goes…   INCARNATION – (deeply dive into humanity) don’t gasp when they swear etc., Why are we so afraid? God with us. So just be there. Learn about their life, when they want you to. Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world but to save it. Be good news. Be a peacemaker. Don’t isolate – incarnate. Get in there. If you do that you’ll get […]

#exponential Rethinking WITNESS. Danielle Strickland. Lifting The Veil.

#exponential Rethinking WITNESS. Acts 3:1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer – at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, ‘Look at us!’ 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. 6 Then Peter said, ‘Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.’ 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they […]

Larry Osborne ‘Come and See’ at #Exponential

Larry Osborne Evangelism was always easy for him because it was a passion for him and he was an extrovert. Gift projection= where I take that and make it the norm everyone else should be Who helped changed him? Thinking about two people he knows. Nancy, his wife. Introvert, mercy giver. Tom, a born salesman who has taught evangelism, knows all the answers, full of stories of people he led to ‘pray a prayer’ for Christ But looking around the church he saw more people had come to faith through Nancy’s love and invitation than Tom’s words. The drive by guilting wasn’t producing lasting fruit Instead they moved to ‘Come and See.’ This will be the primary way people come to Jesus and learn to be disciples unless they were born into a functional Christian family – not ‘Come and see our programs’ but ‘Come and see how we love God and each others’ 1) gives people time to consider the cost & call of Christ. ‘Right now’ decisions rarely stick. Check the Vegas marriages. It usually takes 5-7 encounters […]

Alan Hirsch at #Exponential on Discipleship

We can’t say when a person becomes a Christian. Not even at what point the apostles crossed the line. We are to make disciples He makes Christians What is discipleship? 1. Becoming more and more like Jesus 2. Letting more of Jesus abide in me It’s a response to Jesus being my Lord and Savioiur We believe in Jesus’ death, resurrection and return But what about the focus on incarnation – if we are to go as the Father sent the Son. What about his teachings? His life? That stuff is the LORD part It’s not just the Saviour piece -as sin management We are eternally destined to be confirmed to his image. Bonhoeffer – ‘Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.’ CS Lewis … the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the […]

#RunAlpha – Nicky Gumbel at #Exponential

Invite A Generation: Run Alpha 166 different nations 110 languages 24 million people have done the course 20 to 50% express that they’ve fully come to faith.   A – for anyone L – learning and laughter P – Pasta/ food H – Helping each other A – Ask anything   This was a great session, where we were shown how to run an Alpha course by the man himself, Nicky Gumbel.   Went through some icebreakers;   1)  What’s your name, and a positive adjective? 2)  You’re stuck on a desert island – what two items would you take with you?   Then they get a little more pointed… 3)  How did you end up coming here to Alpha tonight? 4)  If it turned out there was a God after all and you could ask God any question, what would you ask him?   Write down the questions! You hope to answer them as the weeks progress.   NB. The leader is not the main conversationist here. The guests are there to pass it around each other.   This […]

What’s evangelism? #exponential

1) Billy Graham ~ Proclamation 2) Dawson Trotman – Disciple making 3) John M Perkins – Social justice ‘Momma will ask me, what did u do for people like me?’ 3Rs 4) John Wimber – Power! Many of these have been individualistic 5) Hybels. The local church is the hope of the world; church growth/ church planting Acts 2 recovered. But we can end up too focused on numbers that way so… 6) Shane Claiborne – Alternative counter cultural communities. Radical reimagining of the neighbourhood. And we can end up that way not focusing on the word- so, back to Billy! All these models are needed Which should you do? Do what you do best! Affirm all these models, they’ve all been used by God through history so the church grows through history, not transfer.

Can a nation be changed? Nicky Gumbel at #exponential #bgbg2

Luke 5: One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,[a] the people were crowding round him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’ 5 Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.’ 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ […]

#GoodFriday Alan Taylor – how do we measure God’s love for us?

Ever fallen to your knees in prayer? What does it take to bring you to your knees? To pray on your knees. It has to be pretty serious to bring us to our knees. Eph 3:14-18 says that’s what Paul does when he prays that people would understand the love of God in Christ He prays that they’d get it. A lot of people don’t get Good Friday Why is it Good? Why does Jesus dying bring us peace? We need to learn – at the cross – that the love of God isn’t something you earn or deserve, just receive. Jn 17:26 Jesus measures out the love for us At the cross. At how high and wide and deep and long it is. We measure out our accomplishments & achievements to get our value The world says I will love you IF it’s always conditional We try and fail to get our love that way. God measures out his love for us and fits it to us Who would die for you Put themselves under a bus for you […]