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    • Tweets for the Week : 2012-02-06

    February 6, 2012 // No Comments »

    • RT @matttebbe: This is why Hauerwas is one of (if not THE) most important theologian for the American Church: http://t.co/XRg8Btn1 / agreed! #
    • Jan. 30 & I'm about to go for a run… Outside… In shorts… In Chicago… #BOOM #FB #
    • That scream you just heard wherever you are was @amyrozko's response to the final episode of Alias season 4. #FB #bleedingears #
    • from the lifeasmission archives: Trinity wins on 15 laterals Amazing Play http://t.co/o6gfocJa #FB #
    • OK, my pal @KellyDolan got me interested in Scrivener today. Anyone not using their copy any more and looking to sell their license? #FB #
    • from the lifeasmission archives: Repentance and Peace http://t.co/jnKohcuX #FB #
    • from the lifeasmission archives: Car Wash for Peace http://t.co/q60oxcJs #FB #
    • Need some house cleaning help? 2 Hours of House Cleaning: Happy Maids http://t.co/HM0Ms65f via @LivingSocial #FB #
    • The @ecclesianet is a huge help & encouragement to me. Here's a few reasons why, http://t.co/XlykItxS. Hope you consider connecting! #FB #
    • RT @jrdkirk: Fuller's student magazine, The Semi, offers diverse perspectives on homosexuality: http://t.co/qK4DobuV // needed perspective. #
    • My performance on Temple Run after 10:30pm would seem to indicate that my finger-reflexes put themselves to bed around 9. #
    • from the lifeasmission archives: Have You Seen My Bike or God's Justice? http://t.co/qcuOYPgp #FB #
    • from the lifeasmission archives: The "Mega-Problems" of Mega-Churches http://t.co/mLgGjcbm #FB #
    • This is how you rig the gear when you have 2 sets of tech-impaired grandparents dying to see their granddaughter ;) #
    • from the lifeasmission archives: Suburbia http://t.co/jWKtdZNM #FB #
    • Fantastic post w/ important implications for @missionaledu. We Care about Different Credentials – http://t.co/w9EYWYnL #FB #
    • from the lifeasmission archives: Missional Learning Commons http://t.co/E0VwX1ai #FB #

    Posted in weekly tweets

    The Ecclesia Network: Some Reflections and Resources

    February 2, 2012 // No Comments »

    Amidst the polarizing, fragmenting, and empire-building forces that seem to be rearing their ugly heads throughout evangelical Protestantism lately, the Ecclesia Network remains for me something of a refuge.  Ecclesia, as both a context and a family, is committed to and united by a modest, yet deliberate and substantive engagement with the various facets and issues of North American Christianity.  It’s this sort of posture that I believe sets Ecclesia apart in terms of its unique contribution to the lives of leaders, churches, and, through various initiatives and resources, the broader evangelical community.

    To point to just a few things that excite me about Ecclesia, consider the following…

    A yearly national conference (the next one being just about a month out), that seeks to help church planters and pastors wrestle with some of the most pressing issues of mission and ministry from the perspective of those who take seriously the challenges (perhaps better understood as happy opportunities!) of Post-Christendom.

    Over the last 4 years, we’ve brought together leading voices, including those of women and minorities, to help us wrestle with the practical issues of incarnational expressions of ecclesial life.  In each instance, this has been done without pomp and circumstance, opting instead for a subdued environment where the focus is on encouraging one another, building relationships, and giving a good deal of attention to God’s presence and work in our midst.  In this way, our national gathering remains vitally connected to the rest of our lives, relationships, and ministry.

    A leadership podcast that offers listeners a window into the lives and thinking of local church planters and pastors who are either in or connected to the Ecclesia Network.  Backed by the genius and savvy of Mr. Todd Hiestand and John Chandler, esquire, this podcast is just getting going, but there’s some good ones in there already.  Check out the latest podcast w/ Chris Backert, who, at long last, is offering to the world (in multiple parts no less!) some blog posts.  In part of the podcast, he talks a bit about Missio Alliance, an initiative I’m privileged to be a part of and will no doubt be writing more extensively in regard to in the future, but the rest of the podcast is a great introduction into the way Ecclesia has come about and what it “feels” like.

    Aside from those things, Ecclesia is also involved in church planter training (here’s a bunch of great audio from the most recent training session), coaching, and publishing.  Ecclesia also initiates and sponsors regional events like this one in the Northeast, this one in the Northwest, and the Missional Learning Commons here in the Mid-West.

    This is all good stuff.  None of it is completely unique; others seek to offer similar resources and opportunities.  What means the most to me, and what is simultaneously the biggest encouragement to me as something like the Missio Alliance gets underway, is the manner, character, and quality of all this work.  Like I tried to communicate above, as I look around and see so much discord and angling for influence across the evangelical landscape, I’ve just never gotten that taste from the people and work of Ecclesia and I’m grateful for this band of brothers and sisters.

    Posted in church, church planting, Ecclesia Network, evangelicalism, leadership, missio alliance, missional, missional learning commons, post-christendom, western culture

    Tweets for the Week : 2012-01-30

    January 30, 2012 // No Comments »

    Posted in weekly tweets

    Little Promptings

    January 24, 2012 // 10 Comments »

    If I had to isolate the discipline that God has been helping me to cultivate the most over the last year it would be to discern the voice and prompting of the Holy Spirit in normal, everyday, life.  Truth be told, this has been hard.  I’m busy (like everyone else), I’m easily distracted (like everyone else), and (just like everyone else) rather than receiving the reality that God is present and active in all aspects of my day and life, I have a propensity to isolate God to just certain spheres.  To make matters worse, actually hearing and responding to God’s voice and prompting is seldom clearcut.  It’s often something you do without ever knowing for sure if what you heard was really God’s voice or if how you responded was actually the most appropriate decision.

    Today, however, was not one of those times. Today was clear as a bell.

    I took just returned from taking the car in for a quick oil change.  Plenty to do today, so I wanted to get in and out quick.  However, as I walked in, there was an older lady in front of me who was distraught over learning that a major part on her car had gone bad and that the car was going to be virtually undriveable unless she got it fixed.  This wasn’t just a problem of convenience for her, though it was that.  Apparently, she shares this car w/ her daughter who relies on it to get to work.  More than convenience, it seemed that replacing this part was going to be a huge financial hurdle.  As the store manager walked back out to the shop so that she could call her husband on the store phone, I heard her describe how they would need to post-date a check and check with their landlord about either being late or needing to fall short on their monthly payment. In short, this unexpected repair was a major challenge on a couple different fronts and she was obviously beside herself with frustration and worry.

    Enter prompting.

    As I sat in the tiny waiting area and pretended not to listen, I felt like God was prompting me to make a major contribution toward this lady’s repair costs.  I can say with relative certainty that this was God, because believe me, I am at no loss for the many different things that we could be doing with our finances ;)  Then the internal dialogue kicked in.  You can probably imagine it.  Is this really God’s voice?  How much should I contribute?  How would I even explain myself?  Should that money go somewhere else?  Does it need to be accompanied by some sort of explanation?  You get the point.  In the end, however, I decided it was God’s voice, settled on an amount, and once the lady had decided to leave the car there and accept a ride home from one of the shop workers, I simply asked the store manager to apply a portion of her repair cost to my bill.  He was stunned, but happy to do so.

    20 minutes later as I retuned home, still wondering if I had heard and responded faithfully, I received an email from my wife Amy.  She was forwarding another email that she had just received (no kidding – at pretty much exactly the same time I was settling up at the auto shop!) from our new childcare giver, Jean.  Here is Jean’s email…

    Hello Amy,

    Hope you are well today, and that Aubrianna is doing well.

    Will you consider yesterday and next Mondays child care as a gift from me as part of my stewardship?

    This means that I do not want to be paid for either days.

    I am happy to be partnering with you for The Kingdom.

    Have a blessed day, Jean

    Jean’s gift to us was nearly an exact match to the contribution I felt like God had prompted me to make to the lady in need at the auto shop!

    Wish I could say that listening and responding to God’s little promptings was always that clear cut, but the truth is that that’s not the case.  It’s a cool story for sure, but at the heart of it is something more profund – the realization of what we just might be missing out on if we fail to attempt to pay attention to what God might be saying at all.

    Posted in discipleship, elgin, God, money, stories

    Tweets for the Week : 2012-01-23

    January 23, 2012 // No Comments »

    Posted in weekly tweets

    A Look Back and A Look Ahead

    January 17, 2012 // No Comments »

    Whoa, where did 2011 go? I suppose time seeming to run in fast forward when you have a baby for the first time is just an inevitability, but man, that really snuck up on me.

    Looking back over what I posted in 2011, I count about 32 posts, not including my weekly auto-posting of “Tweets of the Week” that gives me (and others if they’re interested) an overview of things (thoughts, pictures, links, etc) that seemed worthy of mention.  That doesn’t quite hit the 1/week rhythm I’d like to keep up with, but didn’t fall below 1/every other week either.  Hoping for some more consistency here in 2012.  We’ll see ;)

    As I survey what I did post, I spent a lot of time writing about theological education from a missiological perspective (initially in March, April, and May and then in a more focused manner in August, October, November, and December). The bulk those thoughts got encapsulated in a paper and video that I had the opportunity to contribute to that will hopefully continue to spur on some conversation over at thefutureoftheologicaleducation.com.

    Theological Education wasn’t the only thing I wrote about however.  Among other things…

    So if that’s a brief look back, what’s in view with a look ahead?  Near as I can tell, 2012 will be punctuated by three major developments.

    1. A Major Job Change

    As of the first year, I’ve resigned my position at Northern Seminary in order to begin working with a new initiative named the Missio Alliance (no website quite yet, but it’s coming).  The basic purpose of the initiative is to bring together a cadre of theological and missiological voices from various streams of evangelicalism in order to begin to offer training and resources for the theological and pastoral formation of Christian leaders.  I’m excited about this opportunity not just because I’ll find the work personally gratifying, but because I think there is a major need for an initiative like this, one that seeks to be theologically centrist, relationally oriented, and structured around the tight integration of theology and practice.  If this sounds like something you’re interested in knowing more about or participating in, don’t hesitate to drop me a line.

    2. Giving Ourselves to God’s Work in Elgin

    For over a year now we’ve had the sense that God might be calling us to give more of our attention and energy to the people and needs of Elgin.  We are just as enamored with our church community, Life on the Vine, as we have ever been.  But, a huge part of what it means to be committed to the vision of Life on the Vine is maintaining a sense of openness to God’s leading for mission and this is what we feel like we’re responding to in faith.  While what this might mean is still very much up for discernment with others (including the pastors of LOV, our close friends, and those we feel like God has brought into our lives as friends and partners here in Elgin), our sense is that God is leading us to begin cultivating what we would call a “missional community” – a group of 20-50 others who identify with a common sense of mission and seek to invest in one another through common rhythms and practices around that mission.

    3. Prayerfully Moving Forward with Adoption

    Amy and I have talked about adoption for several years now, since before we were married as a matter of fact.  The big questions for us have been, “when will be a good time?” “and “where might we adopt from?”  We are still talking, praying, and asking questions about the various factors to consider in terms of domestic vs. international adoption, but at this point it’s fair to say that this is something we feel committed to and will perhaps formally begin the process of here in 2012.  Potentially, this could even mean moving to another home in Elgin that offers the kind of space that we might need as we consider getting a home study done.
    ——

    I’m sure that I’ll be posting much more about all of these things through this next year, but for those of you beautiful people that regularly ask what’s going on and how you might pray for us, near as I can tell, these are the things that will factor most substantively into the shape of life for the Rozko’s for the next 12 months.

    Posted in Amy, blogging, chicago, church, church planting, decisions, discipleship, Ecclesia Network, elgin, family, kids, LOV, missio alliance, missional, missional theology, Northern Seminary, parenting, post-christendom, theological education, theology

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