Kept Publication Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:
Missional Press
149 Golden Plover Dr
Smyrna, DE 19977
Phone: 302-449-4318
http://www.missional-press.com
editor@missional-press.com

Missional Press Announces the Publication of its First Book.

Smyrna, DE – September 24, 2007 — Missional Press announces the publication of their first book, Kept: The Message of Jude. The book is authored by W. David Phillips, the pastor of Mission Fellowship Church in Middletown, DE and is available for purchase, beginning today, September 24, 2007.

The book of Jude is a pearl waiting to be discovered. It is a small, yet potent book that covers two main topics: faithfulness to the Gospel of Christ and keeping ourselves from embracing a distorted message.

Kept: The Message of Jude is a devotional commentary that helps one see how to maintain our faithfulness and keep ourselves from embracing a distorted message. Kept helps us see the importance of Jude to our mission in being Christ-followers in our current culture. Designed for those who would like to study, teach or preach through the book of Jude, the author provides solid biblical exegesis and practical application.

The book retails for $9.99, but Missional Press is providing a 25% discount until October 31, 2007. The book will be available for purchase at the Missional Press online store – store.missional-press.com – immediately and at online retailers and other bookstores before the end of the year.

Missional Press is a publisher of Christian books that relate to all aspects of missional living and ministry. It has 4 projects in development with various authors with topics ranging from the house church movement in China to the journey of transitioning a church from a traditional system to a missional mindset.

For more information: http://www.missional-press.com or
Email: editor@missional-press.com
Phone: 302-449-4318

Ancient Future Praying

I’m a baptist. We abhor liturgy. Anything that smells like vain repetition, like rote activity is quickly dispensed of. Last year around the blogosphere several began discussing prayer and the fact that for most of us, our prayer like stinks. I concurred.

This week I began reading Scot McKnight’s, Praying with the Church, and became interested in the morning, afternoon, and evening prayers. Scot gives good evidence of how this was applied in the Old Testament and the New, in the life of a good Jew and in the life of Jesus. Then I saw how the problem with my prayer life: my spontaneous prayers, meaning prayers that I didn’t read, but just sat down to pray, were themselves becoming very rote. I was saying the same things over and over - my “spontaneity” was actually rote. And I hate it.

So I took an example from Scot and ordered a copy of Phyllis Tickle’s “The Divine Hours”. It has prayers for morning, afternoon and evening and there are different books for different times of the year. Right now, it’s “Prayers for Springtime.” I’m looking forward to starting this practice tomorrow.

In the meantime, I recalled that Paul Littleton had a post on prayer and a tool that he was using called The Daily Office. I began this week using it, and have to say that I found the morning and evening prayers very refreshing. It was a beautiful thing to read the Psalms and to have a confessional prayer. And the variety was a joy.

Just as an experiment, this morning I went back to my old ways. It was a chaotic time. It was sputtering, lacking direction and any semblance of meaning.

My books came today. I look forward to engaging in the ancient-future praying.

Free Online Courses for Church Marketing, Management, & Leadership

Free Online Courses for those who are needing help in understanding marketing, HR, management, etc. These courses are not built for the minister, but would be useful in the administration of a ministry.

(HT churchrelevance.com)

Population of Baptists in America

I ran across this map while doing a little blog search.  The image shows Baptists as a percentage of all residents from 2000.  The big image is here. 

There’s not a lot that is shocking except the large % in Nevada.  Obviously here in Delaware, I’m in the minority!

To see the entire breakdown of denominations, go here.

 

The PromiseKeeper

Baby. Mother, Son, Father. Poor. Afraid. Scared

Little boy. Just walking, just talking. Stumbling, playing. Dependant on mom and dad for everything.

“Don’t Touch That!” “Don’t put your finger in that!” “Not again!”

Unsure. Uncertain. Disconnected from family and friends. Having to make new friends. Looking for work. Looking for a place to live.

Always on the run. Can’t settle down. Always looking over the shoulder, wondering. “Is today the day?” “Is now the time?”

“Where do we go from here?” “Egypt?” “Why?” “An Angel?” “Not again!”

Matthew 2:14-15
14 That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother,
15 and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”

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