The more I get to know Ed Stetzer, the more I love him. Of course, he and I disagree on stuff and of course we agree on stuff. It is the discerning of disagreements/agreements together that makes possible the church. So I very much enjoyed “doing some church” on film. Bill Kinnon and wife Imbi filmed this when they were Chicago late last year. Ed Stetzer is a pastor, prolific author, missional thinker and director of LifeWay Research for the SBC. This is part one of the video production that appears on the new Missional Tribe Network – an amazing grassroots collaborative networking site for all things missional. Check it out and join.
Ed Stetzer & David Fitch – a missional conversation from Missional Tribe on Vimeo.
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Loved it. Ed’s got a smooth voice… should be on the radio… bright guy too. Dave, you’re not so bad yourself.
I think what I appreciated most about this conversation was the emphasis on conversion as still being critical and, even more so, the church having an inherent “attractiveness” in the way of life it embraces. At the end of the day, I think the goodness and truthfulness and beauty of a local community of faith’s lived existence together SHOULD be such that the culture around it notices, such that some would be attracted to that way of life, such that some would decide to join the movement. And that is an emboldening, widening, expansive thought.
Great piece. Thanks for posting.
I really liked how much fun the two you had together. But I think I already said that.
I’m wondering about something that is in the background here.. is that a silhouette of John Lennon? Ok, no, seriously.. it feels to me like Ed and Dave have different assumptions about space/place. When I hear Dave talk about embodiment I hear “doing life” and when Ed talks about it I hear “buildings and programs.” I’m probably reading into this.. but the view inward and outward are so different, and having spent five years outside the building before venturing back in, it all looks different now.
I liked the comment about missional being the “junk drawer” for all the things ‘we’ don’t like about church. There is danger of transforming from a prophetic voice to the Church to being the church choice for anti-consumers.
More confusion about missional has come as it has begun to enter main-stream. There will be a tension to retain it’s meaning. And within 1.5-2 years there will be a new term used.
The best way to define it is to do it and then say ‘follow me as I follow Jesus’
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Ruth
http://www.infrared-sauna-spot.info