Live Sent / reSymbol Workshop with Jason Dukes and Doug Dees April 29 in Orlando

We are excited to partner with the Florida Baptist Convention to bring Jason Dukes and Doug Dees together in a single day workshop.  Here are the details...

LIVE SENT/reSYMBOL Workshop

North Park Baptist Church, 2047 Prospect Avenue, Orlando, FL

April 29, 2010   *   9:00 AM - 3:00 PM

*Cost: $20.00 (PER PERSON)

*The registration fee includes a copy of the books LIVE SENT: you are a letter and

reSymbol: A Guide to reThink, reDefine, and reLease the Church, on-site lunch and breaks.

Come and join us for a conversational workshop about living and communicating the mission of Jesus among our neighbors. Jason Dukes and Doug Dees will be sharing what they have learned about being the church.

Register online or by calling 800-226-8584, Ext. 3018  

The deadline for receiving registrations is Tuesday, April 27, 2010.

Orlando area organic church planters getting together this Thursday night at 7...

We call them house churches, simple churches, multi-housing churches, marketplace churches, but it does not matter where they meet or how they are structured.  So for now, we are going with "organic churches".  These are churches that are not defined by style, structure or location.  Their focus is discipling, evangelizing and multiplying.  If that hits you, then you should join us at Panera Bread on SR 434 at 436 (next to Wal Mart) this
Thursday (March 25, 2010) at 7 p.m.  We will meet to pray for one another, encourage one another and give ourselves away.

Panera Bread

 - www.panerabread.com
West Town Corners, 200 S State Road 434, Altamonte Springs - (407) 831-3741

Not letting the fear of heresy keep you from releasing leaders and multiplying churches

But when I saw that they were not maintaining a steady, straight course according to the Message, I spoke up to Peter in front of them all: "If you, a Jew, live like a non-Jew when you're not being observed by the watchdogs from Jerusalem, what right do you have to require non-Jews to conform to Jewish customs just to make a favorable impression on your old Jerusalem cronies?" (Galatians 2:13, The Message)

Paul used this real-life parable to demonstrate for the Galatians the actions that he was requiring of them.  When Paul encountered heresy, he dealt with it directly and immediately.  He took a great risk by appointing new believers to be elders of the Galatian churches as recorded in Acts 14:24. Knowing that he had to leave them so quickly, he certainly must have been concerned about doctrinal purity.  However, he did not allow that to keep church planting from taking place in the cities where he preached the gospel.  When he gave instructions to Timothy on selecting elders for the church at Ephesus, Paul encouraged him not to select recent converts to serve as elders, because they may "become conceited " (I Timothy 3:6 NIV).  In Galatia, however, Paul had no choice. He had to trust these men and the Holy Spirit.  Many pastors that I have talked to personally  have allowed the fear of what may happen keep them from developing new leaders and releasing them to live sent. Paul's strategy was to preach the gospel, teach disciples, release leaders, and correct heresy whenever it cropped up.  Paul dealt quickly and publicly with Peter when he led the Antioch disciples astray. He expected the Galatian elders to do the same in their churches.

Please don't let fear keep you from fulfilling your assignment.  Jesus will not reward servants who bury their talents out of fear.  Remember Jesus actually sent out Judas, knowing full well that he was a heretic.  I don't think he would fault you for doing it accidentally.  There have been many heretics since Judas and none of them have been able to wreck the movement that Jesus started.