Mission Lab

We take a step back and linger a little longer over the values that our restarted church has embraced and is seeking to implement. We also spend a little time breaking down a reading by Jeff Chu, from "Everyone At the Table," that we read at the beginning of all our missional community gatherings.

After alluding to it on a number of occasions in the past, we finally come out with it and explain what it means to "restart" our church. We detail the events that led up to it, how it all transpired, why it transpired, and what it looks like. 

We go an unconventional route, sharing a sermon that Ty Gibson recently preached. But cut us some slack: we're on vacation!ff Be encouraged, challenged, and stimulated by this thought-provoking sermon by Ty as he grapples with the question of whether people who have never heard of - or seemingly rejected - Christ can be saved.

Shawn sits down with Ted Huskins, the Executive Secretary from the Northern New England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (the governing body that oversees churches in his region), to discuss the challenges of spreading the gospel in New England. Ted reflects on his experience moving from the "Bible Belt" to secular New England, and how his understanding of church planting and evangelism has ch...

Shawn sits down with Greg Jamrog, who recently embraced Christianity and Adventism, to talk about what his journey into faith looked like. They discuss how Greg is an example of what Camille and Shawn talked about in Episode 57 - where leaning into faith will often come primarily through attractive relationships and not necessarily because a person has an unsatiable appetite for "truth." 

We knew this day would come: we've been having conversations lately with people who are interested in officially joining our church. But their interest doesn't necessarily follow traditional Adventist evangelistic lines. So we discuss questions about baptism, membership, and discipleship - noting how historically Adventists have opted for membership over discipleship. 

Shawn goes solo and preaches a "sermon," examining scripture to determine if church buildings contain "sacred space." He then applies the implications to mission, discipleship, and ecclessiology, and addresses common objections to his conclusions. 

What would it look like for teens - middle and high schoolers - to be on mission. We tackle this question, as posed to us by a friend, sharing some practical tips for teens as they think about being on mission and making disciples. This is an episode you can share with your teens as we disciple them to join up with God in His mission.

Shawn goes solo in this episode to talk about something that - in his opinion - a church should never, ever do. 

We have noticed that one of the more common discipleship issues, from a philosophical perspective, is the question of faith and science. Whether it's with already-believers, or with those who are exploring faith, the question of evolutionary theory is one that comes up frequently. Shawn interviews Dr. Anthony Bosman, Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Andrews University, to talk about the inter...

We celebrate our fifty-second podcast in a row, marking one year since we started, by reflecting on what we've learned about mission, discipleship, church, and the gospel over the last year. We also share a few stats about the podcast - and Shawn shares his surprising marathon story from his second marathon the week before.

Back in episode 25, we discussed whether we should "go rogue" when it comes to mission and community in our churches if others don't get it. In this episode, we circle back around to this idea after receiving a question from our friends who seem to be facing this very issue in their own church experience. Is there a place to cut the chord and launch out on our own? We share some surprising insight...

While in Michigan, attending and presenting at a conference, Shawn made a new friend - Simret Mahary - and talked with him about his missional efforts in Frankfurt, Germany. Born in Ethiopa but raised in Germany, Simret is a pastor who started PRESENCE Kulturlounge , which is a cultural center that brings people together to talk about art, movies, and spirituality (what missional theorists would c...

While visiting family in Florida recently, Shawn sat down for a conversation with Elaine Gregory, who's the mother of his brother-in-law and an atheist. She talks about growing up in England, where her mother exposed her to many different religions and how she arrived at her atheism. She unpacks her views on life without God, what religion offers, what type of church experience she would enjoy, wh...

While visiting Andrews University to attend and present at a conference on reaching Millennials, Shawn ran into his friend Bryant and they sat down to talk about life in Tennessee. After graduating with a degree in theology in 2017, Bryant found himself without a job, with no one hiring him to pastor. So after finding a job with McKee Foods, he started his own community, serving those on the fring...

Shawn sits down with one of his very best friends, who is just two days older than him, as they talk about what church looks like to a pastor who now sits in the pew. For the last couple years, Jarod Thomas has been working for the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and has come to some surprirsing and interesting insights as he has been an observer in the crowd. How does Jarod feel abou...

We answer a few more of your questions, discussing what we would have done differently in the past, knowing what we know now; how we can approach Scripture with the proper hermeneutical lens; and how tithe would work if pastors served more as planters and equippers.

We tackle four questions in this episode, discussing what we do when we are being missional but our values clash with those we're trying to disciple, whether and from whom we can learn about discipleship, how we can be supportive of those in leadership at our church who want to just do traditional evangelism, and what we would change about our church. We also announce the winner of our book drawin...

We've touched on it in the past, but we circle back around and spend more time on the importance of eating with people as a missional and communal posture. We look at the precedent of Jesus on this and how it was one of His favorite missional activities. We also suggest some good questions one can ask during a missional community meal, and talk about how food should unite us and not divide us. Che...

It may sound like a cliche, but we talk about the importance of prayer when it comes to mission and discipleship, sharing a few stories about how it has impacted our own lives and mission. Since we cannot control other human beings, we discuss how only the Holy Spirit can bring conviction, speaking to people's hearts. At the same time, we share a huge caveat about how prayer cannot be used as an e...

Is the pastor supposed to be the only one in the church who utilizes his or her gifts? Quite often that seems to be the case. First looking at some sobering stats from our local Seventh-day Adventist conference, we reflect on how every member has been gifted for ministry, discussing the fivefold gifts in Ephesians 4:11-16, and how the success of the church depends on every member of the body utili...

There seems to be a growing sentiment among Christians in general, and even Seventh-day Adventists in particular, which says that we shouldn't "steal sheep" from other denominations. Is this a correct attitude? We grapple with this important question, asking whether there is any room for introducing others to our "truth" and whether the goal of discipleship is to get everyone - whether they're Chr...

Shawn goes solo and offers a telling of "The Story of God," showing the big picture of the Bible's overarching narrative. He shares a few thoughts on how one can organize gatherings for an ongoing telling of the story, how it can be shared with those who don't know anything about God, and a few resources in learning the story better.

This is a critical conversation. Shawn sits down with our good friend and missional community member Judi to talk about what the gospel and mission have to do with race. We talk about the importance of empathy and validating a person's experience and feelings, and genuinely listening to their stories without trying to delegitimatize them. We also discuss how being gospel-people has everything to d...

There seems to be an increasing number of pastors, especially those who are new in ministry, who are becoming disillusioned with "traditional" pastoring. The good news is, the "traditional" way of doing it is probably not biblical. We discuss how pastors can reframe their ministry around mission, discipleship, and community.