JaredSiebert.com

My colleague Dan Sheffield and I are embarking on the maiden voyage of our new course “Culture and the Missional Church”.  We will be spending Friday, Saturday and Sunday with pastors from Ontario discussing how to effectively understand and respond to culture.

Here’s and outline of what the course will look like:

Course Description
The Church is God’s chosen instrument for accomplishing Missio Dei (God’s Mission). This course is designed to introduce an understanding of culture and theology of mission that informs our engagement with our own communities, with peoples around us who are not like us, and gives foundations for involvement in mission beyond our own borders. Processes and practices for engagement with our own communities, and beyond, are introduced and discussed.

Course Objectives
Upon completion, participants will have been…

1. introduced to basic issues in understanding culture in both society and organizations
2. introduced to basic principles for research and analysis of local church culture(s)
3. introduced to processes for leading congregations through the “change cycle”—the basic ministry rhythm of the missional church
4.  introduced to several leadership practices for the missional church

I ask the Universe, or you dear reader - Is it possible that I was the only Canadian, nay even the only human being on planet earth, that had to remove a child’s backpack from the tub before I could take a shower today?

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Here are some audio links to the panel discussions at the latest Cultivate.  

Listening - Cultivate November 2008

The need for more effective listening in church life.  Stories, anecdotes, and sharing on the need for more openness and listening.

Forming - Cultivate November 2008

A conversation on the role of Spiritual Formation in the local church.  Some interesting thoughts on the different ways denominations handle (or don’t handle) Spiritual Formation. 

Innovation - Cultivate November 2008

The final conversation of the day.  Includes predictions about the next 5 years, the balance of old a new, who the church actually belongs to, and who innovators need to include in their ideas.

My buddy Kim Reid’s van just burnt down.  He needs the new van for his work at On Rock Ministries in Montreal.  No one was hurt thank God.  But they NEED a new van to carry on their food program.  They are trying to raise $10,000.

Apparently the van was lent out to a youth group and caught fire on the highway!  How insane is that?    The whole story is here.

If you want to donate to them here is where to send cheques:
“On Rock Ministries”
5000 St. Charles
Pierrefonds Qc
H9H 3G1

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This has been another very busy week in the middle of a very busy season.  Thankfully the end is in sight.  December tends to slow down a lot for me.  Here’s a quick over view of what I’ve been up to.

Greenhouse Church Planting Network Meeting.
In recent months the Kitchener-Waterloo Greenhouse has been meeting with some regularity thanks to the leadership of Brad Culver.  Each meeting tends to be different because the crowd changes from meeting to meeting.  This week a new couple came from Cambridge.  They were great!  They brought great questions and a new energy to the meeting.   It is always a lot of fun to be with people at the beginning stages of planting.  That amazing stage where you are interested in considering thinking about maybe planting a church.  Next meeting is on December 3rd.  Location TBA.

Southwestern Ontario FM Church Startup Network
The FM Church in London graciously acted as hosts for us.   Present at the network where representatives from our church plants in Simcoe (fm-c.org) and Sarnia (theStory).  It was great to hear from them.  This network meeting we covered topics like theme planning and including kids.  theStory really does an incredible job of theme planning.  Go check out their website.  I hope we can hear more from them in the future about this skill area. 

Visit to theStory
My family were able to join me for a visit to the Manafo’s house and theStory.  Always a great time.  My boyz really love hanging out with Ethan and Ella!  The church is doing a great job.  Healthy community.  Healthy conversations.  Healthy progress.

Teaching A Church Planting Course
Tonight I got the chance to teach a class on church planting for my friend James Watson at EBC (my alma mater).  The class was small but fiesty.  They asked great questions.  There was good interaction.  They shared a lot of ideas and experience. I had a great time.  Thanks folks!

Thanks to Josh who alerted me to the fact that my comments were broken.  It seems there were a few of you that stop by a wanted to interact.  Sorry about that. I think I have the problem fixed now.

We here at jaredsiebert.com have decided to bring you up to the minute coverage of the election coverage spanning US, Canadian and British networks.  Hit refresh on your browser to see the latest updates.

7:19pm  - CNN Officially "jumps the shark" the second it introduced it’s profoundly goofy Holographic Technology.

7:29pm - My buddy Tyrone Warner hipped me to this great map by google via twitter. 

7:34pm - Totally bummed that Obama needs so much bulletproof glass in order to run for president.  I have met and talked to Americans that consider his assisination a foregone conclusion.  That’s seems three steps past insane to me.

7:38pm - Curtis Healy joins the elections watching party at election coverage headquarters situation house place of intensity night.

7:43pm - Amazed at how often CNN needs to assure us they are not jumping to premature conclusions.

7:56pm - My kids have exited the bathroom on their way to bed.  Latest exit polls (in my house) indicate this campaign has totally failed to engage the youth vote.  The youth are going to bed.

8:10pm - Clearly I will need more halloween candy to keep election coverage going.  Children not entirely asleep.  Must be quiet.

8:11pm- CNN advises "to break out the pretzels".  I don’t know what that means.  Is that kind of like an Icelandic run on the supermarkets?

8:26pm - At this point Canadians stations are projecting a much larger lead for Obama than American stations.

8:38pm - Maybe it’s the impending sugar induce coma but I can’t watch CNBC or BNN because the ticker traffic is giving me vertigo.

8:50pm - I still do not understand how the electoral college system works - or how it could possibly be the way America elects a president - more info here.

9:00pm - yet another US electoral mystery… CNBC: Your Money Your Vote says "Obama’s only question is whether he wants to be a democratic president or a republican president".  Wait a second he has a choice?!

9:10pm - CityPulse24 - the only cable news station ignoring the US election.  Toronto Mayor David Miller addressing concerns that effect only Torontonians.  Who says Torontonians are self-absorbed?

9:20pm - Kathy confesses she prefers CNN coverage because of Anderson Cooper’s Silver tie!  He is quote "Slick!  I’d watch him anytime"  More on this incredible political development to come…

9:27pm - US Electoral Mystery revealed on CNN:Best Political Team on TV.  William Bennet reveals this incredible insight about John McCain’s campaign road "when the going gets tough… it’s going to get tougher for him"

9:40pm - Kathy notices bad CGI on televised trailer of "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" - and offers the following common sense advice "if you can’t do it - don’t make it."

9:55pm - You have to hand it to the BBC cast.  It’s just nearly 3 am there.  Maybe that explains their explanation of Iowa as a place where " there are 8 pigs for every 1 resident".

10:05pm - I am becoming acutely aware that I can no longer live the rock and roll lifestyle.  It’s just after 10pm and I am exhausted.  I’m going to need a LOT more Halloween candy if I hope to make it through this….

10:20pm - It seems to me that Obama’s victory was considered a foregone conclusion, globally, by about 9:50pm EST.

10;25pm - So tired.  Candy has no permanent effect.  Need to sleep.  Coverage is ending.

There are things that make me wish I still lived in Kingston.  This is one of them.  Some of my friends at Next Church are part of creating this amazing learning community called “The Invisible College“.  Here is a link to their new course on art and music appreciation.  Course starts in January.  If you’re in Kingston you owe it yourself - or me - to check it out.

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It’s been a very busy week for me preparing for a 2 day board meetings for my denomination.  Leaders from all over the country fly in for these meetings. 

We dealt with some significant issues related to, what we’ve nicknamed, our “Pension Deficit Disorder”.  This week our actuarial warned us that by September of next year our pension plan could by underfunded by twice it’s current rate.  This underfunding is not the result of bad management or scorn for retirees, it’s the result of low interest rates and the question “could we pay if we needed to shutdown the pension program today”.  Of course we are not shutting down the pension program today.  Provincial regulations say you have 5 years to payback any underfunding.  That means we are in danger of needing to pay the equivalent of 67% of our annual budget just to cover the new deficit.  The Board developed some solid plans as to how to meet that obligation for next year.  However, we are still hoping that the government can step in and bring some relief.  Seems this problem isn’t just contained to the FMCiC.  Our hope is that the government would allow us 10 or even 15 years to meet our obligations.  Needless to say this spells significant budget constraint and no small amount of anxiety.

Over the weekend I also had the privilege of being the guest speaker at Kingsview FM’s 45 anniversary.  It was great!  The African food that followed the service was amazing!  My family and I had a really great time.

I am feeling extremely run down.  I am taking some time to today just to decompress from a hectic schedule and generalized stress at work.

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My buddy Josh Lyon hipped me to this great urban art project on his blog.

here’s the link to the original website