New books from "Mission" Al and Frosty

…really glad to get a heads up that Alan Hirsch has a couple of new books coming out later in the year – a guide book for communities to take some practical steps in the direction outlined in Alan’s excellent Forgotten Ways book, and another collaborative effort with Michael Frost call reJESUS; A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church

…and I quote

This is a radicalizing book that aims at helping the church recalibrate itself around Jesus as the protoypal Christian. It is what I would call a missional Christology. And it is wild!

No doubt, both books will be hugely useful, and create a bit of a stir in the blogosphere.

I’ll be trying to grab a copy of each as soon as I can.

Struggling

I’ve been really struggling to keep pace with the blog lately. I’ve had thoughts to share and things to say but haven’t been able find the time to tap away at the keyboard and get them added.

So, with that in mind, here’s a bit of a round up:

1. I’ve been meaning to spread the word about this positive and inspirational post by my good buddy and Grumpy Old Git, Andy Greig. I’ve known Andy and his family since we were young kids, so it’s been painful to see him go through such a heavy thing, and wonderful to see him coming out the other side.
2. Glad to hear via Alan Hirsch’s blog that his new book with Mike Frost – ReJesus – has been released in the US. Hoping to pick a copy up when I visit the States for Christmas.
3. It’s been good to hook up (at least in a cyber-stylee) with Chris & Dana Byers of Lifechurch.TV here in London.

Maybe in the New Year we can turn the virtual to actual, and we get a chance to meet over a coffee.
4. A few changes due to the johnnylaird blogroll: Stewart Cutler will go in, as will the other good people from my Twitter tribe who blog; namely Rob G-T, Theresa, Alex and John.
Then there are a few good friends, whose input to the blogosphere has dried up, so they’ll come off the blogroll.
5. While I’m talking about Twitter; it’s interesting that there’s a little bit of a local connection thing happening for me there, where guys who live in our around my little home town are slowly connecting via Twitter. Hi guys!
6. Although I’ve mentioned Something Beautiful before, I wanted to give a little shout out to JB & Thomas to say thanks for the consistently good content they are putting out. A weekly podcast with co-presenters working on opposite sides of the pond is some undertaking, especially when JB & Thomas have daytime jobs, families and all manner of community & tribal connections to maintain, and the guys do it…beautifully. Big up Something Beautiful!
7. ABC Pastor and Randy Bohlender have moved and spruced up their blogs a little. If you don’t know these guys - and even if you – it’s worth checking out their stuff; always fresh & thought provoking.


I’m sure there’s more to say, but that will have to be for another time.

In the words of my blogging buddy, Ian Adams…

Pace Bene!

Book Haul

I’ve had a major book haul over the holidays.
New purchases to get my teeth into in the coming weeks:

ReJesus – by Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch
The New Conspirators : Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time – by Tom Sine
Pattern Recognition - by William Gibson (HT to the Headphonaught for re-igniting my interest in Gibson)
Crazy Love – by Francis Chan
In Defense of Food – by Michael Pollan
The Peoples Bible: NRSV …“Relying on the best insights of historical-critical, liberationist, postmodern, and postcolonial interpretation”

Also, I finally got the chance to replace my copy of Mike Frost’s EXILES: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture, which by way of highest recommendation I had given away to a friend.

Plus copies of Trailrunner and Ministry Today thrown in for good measure.

Hope all this reading material for the daily train ride to the office doesn’t get in the way of me listening to the Something Beautiful podcast! ;-)