Monday, January 30, 2006

Calvary Chapel SE Pastors' Conference - Day Three: Pastor Bob Franquiz

Day Three – Bob Franquiz: The Emerging Church

Bob walked into the pulpit and laid some brutal honesty on us: he admitted that he was so nervous he had to pee. But now he’s onstage and it’s too late to do anything about it.

Bob gave a talk on the Emerging Church. Bob said that the Emerging Church Movement was a response to a crisis in identity that the church has been going through for about seventy years. Young people are just not sure that they want to be a part of our identity crisis.

Bob, pastor of Calvary Fellowship in Miami Lakes, used Acts 17:22-31 as his text for the message. Paul was a bridge builder. He found something in another group’s culture to use to get a running start into a gospel presentation.

The term “Emergent Church” is about four years old. It moved into main stream church terminology after Dan Kimball’s book The Emerging Church hit the shelves at Christian books stores and at Youth Conferences.

It’s a very diverse and very conservative group that defines itself mostly by what it is not instead of what it is. (This link is a good resource)

These young followers of Christ care about the environment, the poor, Africa, AIDS, and social issues. They don’t want to go to churches that are cash cows for the Republican Party (who can blame them?). They believe it is necessary to show the love of Jesus to build a bridge to share the gospel.

Bob urged us to apply 1 Chronicles 12:32 and understand the times.

We need to understand the language the emerging culture is speaking so that we can lovingly and accurately deliver the gospel of Jesus to this and the next generation.

Great job, Bob. It’s gotta be tough to be sandwiched between two heavy hitters like Ken Graves and Bob Coy. See you when you’re on at Catalyst.

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