Ecclesia People
God is Still Redeeming My Life
This post was written by a member of Life on the Vine, an Ecclesia congregation in suburban Chicago. On October 30, 2004, I found out that my mom had died earlier that morning. At seven years old that put me into a pit of grief; which I’ve struggled with for the past eight years. I [...]
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Why I’m Going Back to the Ecclesia National Gathering / Bill Cummings
Bill Cummings is the director of Lemonade International, a nonprofit organization based in Raleigh, NC. Educating and empowering people in the largest urban slum in Central America – La Limonada in Guatemala City. http://www.lemonadeinternational.org Last year (2010) was my first Ecclesia Network National Gathering. It was different than any other church/ministry/leadership conference I had ever [...]
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Why I’m Going to the National Gathering – Ben Sternke
Ben Sternke is a pastor in Fort Wayne, IN at Christ Church. Since the inception of our church plant, we have been part of a remarkable group of people and churches called The Ecclesia Network. This year our national gathering will be held March 5-7, 2012 near Washington, D.C. The focus this time is on how our churches can [...]
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Why I’m Going to the Ecclesia National Gathering: JR Rozko
I used to be a conference junkie. Straight out of college and anxious (though I never would have admitted it) to be the next big thing, I though that if I hit enough conferences, rubbed shoulders with big-shot speakers, and played my cards right, I’d be well on my way. What can I say, I [...]
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Ecclesia Network Bloggers
The heart of Ecclesia is, of course, the people of Ecclesia. Here are some of the Ecclesia Network bloggers. If we missed you or someone you know, leave a comment and a link and we’ll add it to the list. Ben Sternke Bob Hyatt David Fitch Doug Paul Dustin Bagby Gary Alloway Jim Pace J.R. [...]
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The Kingdom in Everyday Life
by Tracy Commons Currently, I am working full-time and finishing up my last semester at Temple University. It’s been stressful trying to balance everything, trying to have it “together” – and continuing to build relationships with others. Even though I know this is my last semester and graduation is so near- I still get “ants [...]
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Leading From Where You’ve Actually Been
by Eric Phillips “The true Christian leader is one who walks with others, leading them to a place where he himself has already been.” This is an idea that recently has been on the forefront of my mind. Recently I have wrestled with the fact that there seems to be so little power in my [...]
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Formation as Excavation
Lindsey Sullivan. Junior at Lynchburg College. [lcf] leader. Though the attractive colors may lure you to this visual metaphor of Excavation, I thought it best to further explain why I am digging deeper. Reading the picture left to right, our eye rests on the giant volcano first. We see lava spewing from the top and [...]
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First Free: A Test-case for the Declining Evangelical Urban Congregation
by Adam Gustine I came to First Free, with my family and co-pastor Ben, when the church was coming out of a long transition period that had followed an even longer period of conflict and trouble. You could say that our church was a test-case for the declining evangelical urban congregation, struggling to make sense [...]
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Christlike love is not practical
by Evan Curry “As kingdom people we are called to live in love, which means we are called and empowered to live free of fear. Because our source of worth, significance, and security is found exclusively in God’s love and God’s reign, not our own immediate well-being, and because we believe in the resurrection, we [...]
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