Posted by Nate Bush on Jul 10, 2009
The steam floats lightly over a fresh brew. Conversation, creativity, and the blue notes of a smooth John Coltrane tune fill the atmosphere. The coffee scent weaves together with that old book smell. While reclining in a comfortable well-worn, leather chair, I will say it, “Life is good.” Do you know the feeling? It’s the feeling that says, “Everything is as it should be.” People live their lives trying to create that feeling. Chasing the “good life” is a race that we never seem to win. Someone once said it is like chasing after wind. Read More…
Posted by Nate Bush on May 28, 2009
See my about page for a more detailed description of ABQ. Kiplinger.com has just rated ABQ as the second best city to live in the US. The city has a population of 820,000 and growing. Many corporate leaders in the high-tech industry are attracted the city and they are rapidly setting up shop ABQ. The arts are also thriving in the city. Movie companies have identified ABQ as a place that they would like to do business. Terminator Salvation was recently filmed at Albuquerque Studios. The studio has grown for 100 employees to 3,000 in eight years. ABQ is an emerging city and a strategic place for a new church work.
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Posted by Nate Bush on May 27, 2009
I recently read Tangible Kingdom. This book has stretched my thinking. My only experience with Church has been the conservative evangelical church experience as we know in America. The pattern in this brand of doing church is linear. Some have called it the “attractional model.” Essentially, Sunday morning is an event that is intended to attract people. Christians bring their lost friends to church to hear the gospel, the preacher teaches the gospel, gives an invitation, people make decisions, and then church processes them through programs to produce disciples. There is nothing wrong with this model, and as long as people are being saved by the Good News of Jesus, why do anything different? The downside of this model is that it expects the “outsider” to be sent to the church. The expectation is not for the church to be sent to the outsider.
Francis Schaeffer once said that modern society has “both feet firmly planted in mid air.” As the post-modern age is whizzing by, the church it is leaving Christianity far behind. The church can no longer assume that people in the world have any context or category by which to filter the church or the message about Jesus and His saving Grace. The attractional model is not a strategy that can stand on its own for long. Read More…
