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The Stones Hit the Road
By Paul | March 26, 2007
Dave and John Stone attended the Organic Church Conference about 2 months ago. To maximize the takeaway value of the conference for all of us, I asked Dave a few questions about what God showed him while he was there.
What made you interested in attending the Organic Church conference last month?
I was reading with my small group The Organic Church.
What concepts/insights “disturbed” you in your spirit while you were there?
I wrestled with the question, “What is church?” Is my understanding of church based upon Scripture? Or is it based upon what I’ve experienced? or some combination of the two? I also wrestled with the question, Does my notion of success line up with God’s notion of success? Consider John the Baptist’s ministry. His life ended with him in prison, doubting his call to ministry. And yet, Jesus said about him there is none greater. In the world’s eyes, John was a failure. In God’s eyes, he was a total success.
What concepts totally resonated with you for “doing church” in the years to come?
I think we need to lower the bar of what it means to “do church” and raise the bar of what it means to “do discipleship.” Inside every believer is the complete DNA necessary for God to grow his entire church. Therefore, God can grow a church out of any believer. I hope to view each member in my small group as a potential “church” that God can grow.
How will you be different as a result of attending?
I am seeking to “hand-off” as much leadership as possible in hopes that some of the “hand-off’s” will invigorate someone to step into a greater leadership role. Examples of this include asking other small group members to host our meetings and to lead our meetings.
Anything peripheral about the experience that you want to share with other leaders (like what you ate for lunch, who you met while there, an airport story)?
Met a great guy named Chris Wright who has a wonderful heart for God and for people. He attends Neil Cole’s church (author of The Organic Church). It was great to pick his brain about what the Organic Church is about from the perspective of an insider. John and I had the privilege of eating dinner with Chris and some other conference attendees. It was wonderful to share such fellowship with people who are in one sense complete strangers, and in another (more real) sense, family.
Topics: Inspire |
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