Devising Ways
Have you ever had a broken relationship or friendship you wished could be reconciled? God speaks to reconciliation in 2 Samuel 14:14, where His word tells us, “Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But this is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him.” Wow! What an amazing way to articulate our need for reconciliation, and God’s yearning for it.
Examining the context of 2 Samuel 14:14 reminds us that David’s son Absalom had recently run away from home after killing his half brother Ammon. While David was upset with Absalom for killing Ammon, he longed to be reconciled with him. He wanted him back home.
He had already lost one son, being disconnected from his other son was only exasperating his grief. That’s why David’s right-hand man Joab sent a woman from Tekoa to share God’s desire for reconciliation with him. Convinced of God’s desire for reconciliation David invited Absalom back home, so they could be a family again (even if it was only for a few years).
Does God still devise ways to bring people back to him? To find out our answer, continue reading.
-Patrick Bradley, Director of Operations
May 2021 – Contents
- The Reset Summit – Thinking Differently About Church
- Faith & Fitness – Moving People Closer To Jesus
- Future Church – Refocusing Your Ministry Efforts
- Distance Residency – Developing Church Planters
The Reset Summit
2020 was a year of disruption. While most churches figured out how to pivot in the face of COVID-19, we’re left wondering: what’s next? How has this pandemic changed our world and our ability to make disciples and start new churches in the years to come? What changes do we need to continue to make in order to most effectively saturate our cities with the gospel? How do we lead with confidence in a post-COVID world?
Exponential wants to help you answer those questions through The Reset Summit, a free interactive online experience. Join 5,000+ church leaders to be challenged and inspired by to think differently about how we’re obeying Jesus’ command to make disciples. Leaders like Matt Chandler, Craig Groeschel, and Francis Chan will share their thoughts and ideas. To learn more about what you can expect from this summit and information on how to register continue reading.
Faith & Fitness
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade, you’ve probably heard about the growing sport of Crossfit. Started in 2000 by two fitness enthusiasts, Crossfit has blossomed from a single gym to 15,000 affiliated gyms spread all over the world.
Articles like The Church of Crossfit and CrossFit Is My Church reveal the connections and similarities between this fitness movement and Jesus’ church. Due to all these connections, it’s no surprise many followers of Jesus are using their love for fitness as an avenue to share the gospel with other fitness lovers. Even some of the biggest names in the sport leverage their passion for fitness to share their faith including….Continue reading.
Future Church
Will Mancini handed in the manuscript for his most recent book Future Church to his publisher on March 8th 2020. Several days later COVID-19 was declared a worldwide pandemic and pastors were forced to adapt their ministry efforts just to continue functioning as a church. Constrained by social-distancing guidelines, public fear, financial setbacks, and clashing of opinions from within the church about the virus, church leaders began to grapple with how to pursue the mission of Jesus in the midst of a pandemic.
Written to shed light on the current struggles many churches are facing to produce reproducing disciples of Jesus, Future Church offers solutions on how churches can focus their ministry efforts towards multiplying followers of Jesus in a world that’s constantly in flux…Continue reading.
Distance Residency Program
One method of fulfilling the great commission that’s not changed throughout church history is church planting. We don’t see that changing anytime soon. That’s why we’re just as committed to helping leaders start healthy multiplying churches as we’ve ever been before. In many ways, COVID has heightened our awareness of the need for church multiplication. What churches were least affected by the pandemic? It was our friends leading micro church networks. It was our friends who had planted churches that planted churches instead of focusing all their efforts on building one large congregation. Continue reading to learn how we’re helping local churches develop leaders to send out to start new churches.