Mission Lab

The word "discipleship" is such a buzzword today. It is populat to talk about its importance. We also mention it frequently. But what does it mean? And how do we do it? We grapple with this important and significant question, offering our take on what it means to make disciples and how we do it.

Pretty simple: we reflect on what scares us about mission, discipleship, and the church. 

Shawn sits down with our good friend, Tom, who is a part of our missional community. We talk about his journey as a young man growing up in a Catholic home, his brief stint in Judaism, how his wife's prayers have borne fruit after 30 years of marriage, and his doubts and decisions relating to Christianity, discipleship, and the Bible. At the end of the day, we rejoice in the fun he's having as he...

We pick off a few ideas from Rob Bell, Brene Brown, Jeff Bezos, Esther, Jesus, and Paul and encourage people to realize that "we are the committee." God is longing for people to have the courage to move forward to participate in His mission, prayerfully and graciously being who He wants us to be.

Does God need us to dress up? That's the question we explore in this episode, asking whether we need to wear suits and ties and nice dresses when we gather together. Not surprisingly, we say the answer is a resounding "no!" In fact, to do so may give the impression of non-inclusiveness. And it may be idolatrous, as though God needs to be appeased by us by wearing some sort of arbitrary costume. We...

Over the course of our podcast we haven't talked much about the importance of making Scripture the foundation of our mission, discipleship and community. So that's what we do here. We address the role of Scripture in the life of the disciple and the community of disciples, noting how a missional community is not just a "support group," and then discuss the role of Scripture in the discipling of ot...

Shawn sits down with his mother to talk about her life on mission - before being missional was even cool - as a nurse for three decades. She shares a really unbelievable story of Doreen, a troubled co-worker the Brace family took in for a weekend that turned into nearly two decades, and how that simple decision ended up having eternal ramifications.

We reflect back on the past year and discuss whether we have experienced any success missionally. Of course, this brings up all sorts of questions of what success looks like, how we define it, and how we ultimately should leave those concerns up to God.

We crunch some numbers. Not that we're really about numbers, but we make a simple case for why life-on-life discipleship is a smarter investment of time, money, and resources when it comes to trying to change the world than putting on big meetings that might draw a larger crowd. Simply put, it's the power of exponential growth.

Is it possible to learn something from people who don't believe in God? Shawn sits down with Camille's sister, Shelley, and her husband Greg, to have a fascinating and edifying conversation about their journey in and out of Christianity and faith. 

We get practical again and share some ideas on how to be missional at Christmas time - without putting on a program. It's never too early to start thinking about the Christmas season. So enjoy a few suggestions of how you can get on mission this year.

We get very practical here, sharing 13 ways to be missional in your city or town. We talk about how we can enter the rhythms of life in your community and incarnate the gospel in everyday life. The goal, of course, is to repeatedly journey alongside people so we can ultimately "do life" with them and bless and serve them.

So what happens if you're a pastor or a layperson and you'd really like to get your church on mission, making disciples, and forming community, but you're not sure that anyone else does? We talk about some practical steps to take when it comes to pursuing this vision within your congregation.

We take a breather and review what we've been talking about in the podcast. This is a very big picture episode which can easily be shared to give the crux of our missional burden. We talk about the challenges the church faces, how we need to be missional and not attractional, how we need to do life with people, and how we can form communities that are on mission.

Shawn sits down with our good friend, Ty Gibson, to discuss the state of the church. Ty is co-director of Light Bearers Ministry in Jasper, Oregon, as well as ARISE - which trains young people in the gospel. Ty pulls no punches as he evaluates our challenges in the church and offers a few practical solutions on how we can fulfill our high calling.

There is a lot of church practice that we participate in without examining our underlying assumptions. In this episode, we take a step back and talk about the purpose and reasons for gathering as God's people, first touching upon why we refer to such events as "gatherings" rather than "church," and then laying a foundation for how gathering as God's people might look. 

We've talked in the past about what a missional community is and how important they are. Now we talk about some of the ins-and-outs of starting one. What are the first steps to starting a missional community and how do we choose our mission? These are a few of the questions we tackle in this very relevant conversation!

While speaking in Australia recently, Shawn caught up with two young church planters who are on fire for mission. Meet Francis Pule and Lachlan Campbell, who started LifeSwich Community Church in Goodna, Queensland, Australia. Enjoy their passion and glean some ideas. Hear how regular pastoring just wasn't cutting it for them.

Shawn's dad stops by and shares reflections from over 40 years of ministry. He talks about the positives from his ministry and what he may have done differently - implicitly revealing that you can teach an old dog new tricks. We reflect on how to reach people from Beacon Hill in Boston - the epitome of those from the upper class - and how our traditional evangelistic efforts likely won't reach peo...

Camille picks up the baton and shares her story. 

You've heard other people's stories on the podcast, now spend the next two weeks hearing ours. Shawn kicks off this two-part detour sharing his story - admitting that his story is quite ordinary and boring - but also recognizing that that's where its power resides.

You've heard us mention his name a few times, now meet him yourself! Shawn sits down with our friend Pudge to talk about his zig-zagging life - from growing up as a military brat, to having the fear of God scared into him by his childhood pastor, to bouncing in and out of marriage - and church. Discover why he's felt a pull back into the missional life.

One of the most powerful things we can do while being on mission and making disciples is to listen to one another's story. We explain how this has been so important in our missional community life and how it gives dignity to those we are blessing and serving.

Approximately half the population of the world considers themselves to be "introverts." What does mission and community mean for them? Do they get a free pass from making disciples and being on mission? Acknowledging that we are both extroverts, we discuss how introverts may actually have an advantage when it comes to making disciples and being in missional communities.

Shawn sits down with his good friend - NFL veteran and stay-at-home Dad, Mike DeVito. We talk about Mike's story of coming to Christ in college, how that naturally translated into sharing his faith with his family, but how his missional fervor has admittedly waned since then. We also dabble in a brief conversation on the relation of culture and Christ - how to walk the fine line of trying to redee...