Entering the Missional Matrix–What 2012 Holds for the Mason Vineyard–3dm Coaching

In 2012, I hope my readers can follow along with our journey as we follow God into the adventure of implementing Missional Communities into our church.  We are doing this in a formal way.  First, I will be entering a coaching relationship with a 3dm coach, Ben Sternke.  As the year progresses, we will be entering a learning community with 3dm.  The details on that are still coming together.  But, I will be documenting it along the way here on the blog.  I hope it is helpful if you are considering doing something like this yourself.  Also, if you are a part of the Mason Vineyard, it make help make sense of what in the world we are thinking and doing!

Here is a new post about some things happening this week.

I’m excited about what is developing in the Cincinnati area with the concept of discipleship.  When I say the word discipleship, I mean simply, a movement of people attempting to imitate Jesus – that is, be like Jesus. (It’s kinda rare if you think about it.)

Thursday, I will be attending, with several of my elders and my wife, a brief introductory meeting with Mike Breen, at Crossroads Church.  Mike has been doing some consulting with Crossroads and their Senior Pastor Brian Tome. 

Crossroads is a very kingdom minded mega church in the Cincy area and every year they do a city-wide spiritual journey (children’s, youth, small group, and sermon based experience) that has gone multi-state in the last few years.  The most recent journey was called STRONG JOURNEY.  The last number I heard was 85 churches participated.  Last week, Brian Tome sent out an email inviting all the pastors who participated in Strong Journey to come hang out with he and Mike Breen for a couple hours. 

So, I have to admit, I caught wind of the fact that Brian was hanging with Mike at the end of November and my interest was piqued.  (I was a little shocked.)  Part of the Strong Journey is a preacher’s meeting where several pastor’s get together once a week to share preaching ideas for the upcoming sermon . I got a sniff that Brian had been reflecting on some of this content, and then I saw on Mike’s Twitter timeline that Brian was going to Sheffield, UK to hang out at the church Mike Breen first implemented some of the ministry concepts that now shape what 3dm is doing here in the United States.  If you are interested, it’s called St. Thomas Sheffield.  I emailed Brian hoping to have some time with him and see what Crossroads was up to.  We did and after coffee, I don’t know if I or Brian knew what he, or Crossroads, was up to?  It appeared that Crossroads was just committed to let Mike come, check them out, diagnose their discipleship culture, and see what happens.  I’m intrigued to see what happens.  We will see…  Even if all it does is effect next year’s journey, it will be awesome, but I am thinking it will have a larger impact.

Interestingly, I just listened to Brian’s January 1 sermon.  He did a little bit of Mike Breen – Kairos Moments!  Check it out.

To be honest, I don’t know what will or can happen in 2 hours with Mike.  I am excited to let my elders and my wife get some time with Mike and hear a little more.  I realize that this is going to take time and I just need to keep exposing my team to it and lead them into it one step at a time.  It will come.  I am just hoping that they experience something tomorrow during the meeting that they like. 

Another cool piece of this puzzle is that Vineyard Cincinnati’s Small Groups pastors will be attending this meeting on Thursday.  They are also reading Breen’s books and wrestling with the concept of Discipleship.  Here are links to Breen’s books:

  

Next week, I am headed to Pawley’s Island, SC to go to 3dm’s Discipleship and Mission workshop with another one of my elders (I am hoping another joins us).  I think we will walk away from that with a pretty clear picture of what lies ahead as we forge the Mason Vineyard’s implementation of this.

I will also have some time with Ben Sternke, in Fort Wayne, this week to start laying some ground work for where we go over the next few months.  He and I will begin our coaching relationship soon, which will include weekly phone calls and familiarization with Lifeshapes and Building a Discipling Culture content.  Which I will elaborate on in the future. 

I will let you know how tomorrow goes…

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