Jared Wilson pastors a church in Vermont, runs a great blog, and wrote the book Your Jesus Is Too Safe: Outgrowing a Drive-Thru, Feel Good Savior.

I had never even visited New England before I began the interview process for the church in rural Vermont that I am pastoring now. As a native Texan who spent more than a decade in Tennessee, I have the blue blood of the Bible Belt coursing through my veins. But in 2008, as the pastor of a young church plant in Nashville, God began to shift my attention from the older brothers of my homeland to the prodigals of (what I would consider) the wilderness.

In just the last two years I have been privileged to connect with others who are receiving a heart for the now least-reached portion of the United States, and I believe more and more are receiving the call, looking to “liberal,” “pagan,” “dead and dry” New England with missionary fervor. But the need is great and the workers are still few. As I keep an eye on the momentum of church planting initiatives in the U.S., I am grateful to see so many willing hearts and strong hands engaging neighbors with the gospel, but I am disheartened to see over and over again the least-churched region of the nation overlooked. Could the neglect of this emerging mission field not be from the lack of God’s call, but the lack of the called’s interest?

If you are a future church planter or have designs on joining a missional plant, here are some reasons I hope you will consider looking to and praying for a vision of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, or Vermont, the six states that comprise New England:

1. New England is the least-churched area of the nation.

If there is an unreached people group in the United States, it is New Englanders. A 2009 Gallup poll placed the six states of New England in the top ten least religious states in the nation. While the Bible Belt is approaching a completely unchurched generation, New England is already there. There is no high attendance at Easter and Christmas, because nobody even has the nostalgia factor driving them to recapture childhood visits to church.

There is no biblical literacy to speak of, of course. According to the Glenmary Research Center, via NETS Institute for Church Planting, those in New England who attend evangelical churches hover between 1 and 3% of the population. There is a higher percentage of evangelical Christian churchgoers in Mormon Utah than in Rhode Island!

2. New England’s few existing churches are not gospel-wakened.

New Englanders have little desire for anything to do with Christianity or church, but even those who have it have little opportunity to explore it. While the landscape of New England is dotted with little church buildings, some quaint and some beautiful, more and more of these buildings now house liberal, practically Unitarian congregations, if they house church gatherings at all.

And where churches are evangelical, the evangel has not yet captured the hearts of many congregations. As the cultural environment became more worldly, conservative churches became more insular, opting to self-protect in their religious “bunkers” instead of engaging their communities in gospel mission. The need for gospel-centered missional churches throughout New England is dire. The good news is that a movement is afoot already, but it needs more workers.

3. New England is spiritually fertile.

While the soil in New England is superficially hard, beneath it run springs of spiritual openness. This isn’t always a good thing, of course, but there’s something about this area of the nation that is spiritually fertile. America’s two major cults—the Latter Day Saints and the Jehovah’s Witnesses—had their genesis in the Northeast United States, both in New York State. (My 200-year-old church in Vermont actually kicked out Joseph Smith’s secretary for heresy!) The New Age movement and pagan spiritualities are still popular in pockets throughout rural areas and college towns.

But there is a rich evangelical heritage in New England, of course. The Great Awakenings began here. George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, and Charles Finney are just some of the great preachers God used to light fires of gospel revival. New England enjoys a great history of Reformational preaching and mission. Lemuel Haynes of Rutland, Vermont, was a strong Calvinist parish minister and the first black pastor of an all-white church in the United States.

But where gospel fires once burned now looks burnt over. The majority religion in New England is Catholicism, which seems so odd given the evangelical fervor of the Awakenings.

Many of us believe God can and will do something great again in New England. As in the days of Amos, we are praying that God will do what he promised to do for his dispersed children: “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old” (Amos 9:11).

Is God calling you to raise up the ruins of beautiful New England? The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

How Do You Pastor Your Family?

How do you pastor your family? A practical article by an A29 pastor and dad. Read it here.

The City on the Hill

In Jeremiah 29:4-7 God called the Israelites, who had been exiled into Babylon, to pursue the peace and prosperity of that pagan city. Likewise, Jesus, in Matthew 5:13-16, calls us to be a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. He clarified that not only our words, but our words backed by deeds of service would shine the glory of God from the city of God into the secular city.

We see in Luke how Jesus not only used his words to bring the gospel, but also his acts of service allowed his words to be heard. As Christians sent into our respective cities, we are called to be the very best citizens of that city. We are to work for the peace, safety, security, vibrancy, and future of our city, plus the common good of all of our neighbors. A gospel-centered church is one that takes this mission seriously. We want to demonstrate the resources the Christian faith has for hope in the future.

New Heavens and New Earth

In Revelation, we don't see individuals being taken out of the world into heaven, but heaven coming down to renew the world and wash it of evil, disease, poverty, injustice and death. At Mars Hill Downtown we are actively working to build bridges and relationships with city and neighborhood leaders. We want to find out what the needs and gaps are in our city and if at all possible, work towards a solution.

City Involvement

Practically, we host "Town Halls," where we invite local city leaders to an evening of discussion, brainstorming and strategizing how we as a community can assist. A new ministry that sprung out of a conversation with a civic leader last year is "Rest". This ministry reaches out to the girls and women in our city who work in prostitution and dancing, or who are involved in sex trafficking. We are pursuing permission with a downtown strip club for some of our women to begin building relationships at the club on Friday nights.

Additionally, many members are actively involved on community councils, Mayor's office, business associations, and chambers of commerce. We don't believe that politics changes hearts—Jesus does. We do believe that we are called to serve our city, love our neighbors, and be as active as possible, so that people "see our good works and glorify our Father who is in Heaven" (Matt. 5:16).

ESV Study Bible

The ESV Study Bible is our Bible of choice. To show how good the notes are, we’ve posted some free study notes on the Trinity. Read them here.

Backstage: Francis Chan from SBC Greater Things 2010 on Vimeo.

R.C. Sproul Interviews

Has R.C. Sproul ever been on the internet? What is the biggest upcoming theological battle? Dr. Sproul answers questions like these in this special interview series.

What do record company executives do in their spare time? The question may conjure up images of excess and debauchery, but in one case the answer is a little different.

Scripture-Pop for Kids

Tyson Paoletti has helped run Tooth & Nail Records in Seattle for the better part of the last decade. He and songwriter, freelance designer, and friend Greg Lutze came up with the idea for an album of Scripture based, guitar-pop worship songs for kids. Both members of Mars Hill Church, they are artists and fathers trying to figure out ways to establish Scripture memory as a value in their families. What began as a series of jingles to help memorize Bible verses became a full-length album of music you can’t get out of your head, joined to lyrics of straight Scripture.

Listen to the Rizers:

Pay What You Want

Re:Sound exists to show music that is theologically unified, stylistically diverse and musically excellent. Today we make good on the stylistically diverse part of the equation. We are offering four songs from The Rizers’ first album for whatever you think they are worth. Check out these songs here and the whole album on iTunes. Also stay tuned in the coming weeks for lots more info on this project, family Scripture memory, and what it means to lead your family in worship in a regular basis.

You can get the full album from the Rizers here:

1. iTunes
2. Amazon MP3
3. Physical CD

The Rizers

A band that sings Scripture verses in the form of upbeat, kid-friendly music. Check out The Rizers.

Recently I sat down with David Platt, Pastor of the Church of Brook Hills in Birmingham, AL, and author of Radical, at the Advance the Church 2010 Conference. In part one of our conversation, David shares his thoughts about the spiritual landscape of the South, his counsel for younger leaders, and his "one thing" for pastors.

Recommended Books

Get the best books on various important topics. Check out our recommended reading section.

This is a series on 11 Leadership Lessons from 12 Disciples, based on the recent sermon Jesus Calls the Twelve, on Luke 6:12-16.

Lesson #11: Die with your boots on

You're either going to go out like Judas or Jesus—that's how your life is going to end. You're going to go out like Jesus, faithful to the end, whatever the cost, or you're going to go out like Judas, prematurely, tragically, rebelliously, shamefully. I want you to keep your boots on, finish strong, run your race, see it through to the end, be a completer, a finisher, a closer of the things God has given you to do.

As you read this, maybe you're like me, you may wonder, "What happened to these guys?" We know in the Bible, they went forward. Some of them were cowards, but they toughened up. The resurrection put some steel in their spine. They preached, they taught, they planted churches. John wrote five books of the Bible, Peter wrote two. These guys did get some stuff done, but the Bible doesn't tell us how they finished—for that we've got to go to history. Did they die with their boots on? Here are some of their stories from Foxe's Book of Martyrs. It was first written in 1559, and it's fantastic. Gotta love the Puritans.

James

Wonder how James died?

The first apostle to suffer after the martyrdom of Stephen was James, the brother of John. Clement tells us when this James was brought to the tribunal seat, he that brought him and was the cause of his trouble, seeing him to be condemned and that he should suffer death, was in such sort moved within heart and conscience that he went to the execution and confessed himself also of his own accord to be a Christian. And so were they led forth together, where in the way he desired of James to forgive him what he had done. After James had a little pause with himself upon the matter, turning to him he said, "Peace to thee, my brother," and kissed him, and both were beheaded.

James had a critic who wanted him murdered. He had a Judas, and on the way to be crucified, apparently he had some conversation with his Judas, and his Judas repented and said, "I'm sorry. Let's get beheaded together for Jesus," and they did. James is a bad man—in a good way.

Thomas

"Thomas preached to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, Carmenians, Hyrcanians, Bactrians, and Margians. He was killed in Calamina, India." Most of these men died murderous martyrdom. You know what? Mars Hill Church would be much smaller but much holier, more effective, more fruitful, I think, if we had a little bit of suffering. Can't make it happen, I've tried. But what happens is when people start giving their life for the cause of the gospel, all of a sudden those who are playing church stop playing. They either step up for Jesus, and go from "come and see" to "go and die," or like Judas, they just walk away and go do something else.

Simon

"Simon, brother of Jude and James the younger who were all the sons of Mary Cleophas and Alphaeus, was bishop of Jerusalem after James," Jesus' brother. "He was crucified in Egypt." Crucified. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it well: "When Christ calls a man, he calls him to come and die." Come and die. When Jesus says, "Pick up your cross and follow me," that's what it means to be a disciple, that you go the way of Jesus. You give your life for what he gave his life to, the glory of God and the good of others for the church. "The other Simon, the apostle, he was also crucified."

Bartholomew

"Bartholomew is said to have preached in India and translated the Gospel of Matthew into their tongue. He was beaten, crucified, and beheaded."

Andrew

Andrew, Peter's brother, was crucified. Bernard and St. Cyprian mentioned the confession and martyrdom of this blessed apostle. Partly from them and partly from other reliable writers, we gather the following material:

When Andrew, through his diligent preaching had brought many to the faith of Christ, Egeas the governor asked permission to the Roman senate to force all Christians to sacrifice to and honor the Roman idols. Andrew thought he should resist Egeas and went to him, telling them that a judge of men should first know and worship as judge in heaven. 'While worshiping the true God,' Andrew said, 'he should banish all false gods and blind idols from his mind.' Furious at Andrew, Egeas demanded to know if he was the man who had recently overthrown the temples of the gods and persuaded men to become Christians, a 'superstitious' sect that had recently been declared illegal by the Romans.

Andrew replied that, 'The rulers of Rome didn't understand the truth. The son of God who came into the world for man's sake taught that the Roman gods were devils, enemies of mankind teaching men to offend God, and causing him to turn away from them. By serving the devil, men fall into all kinds of wickedness,' Andrew said. 'And after they die, nothing but their evil deeds are remembered.' The proconsul ordered Andrew not to preach these things anymore or he would face a speedy crucifixion."

If you were going to get crucified, would you stop calling yourself a Christian?

Whereupon Andrew replied, [and this is an amazing line] "I would not have preached the honor and glory of the cross if I feared the death of the cross." He was condemned to be crucified for teaching a new sect and taking away the religion of the Roman gods. Andrew, going toward the place of execution, and seeing the cross waiting for him, never changed his expression, neither did he fail in his speech. His body fainted not, nor did his reason fail him as often happens to men about to die. He said, "'Oh cross, most welcome and longed for, with a willing mind, joyfully and desirously I come to you being the scholar of him which did hang on you because I have always been your lover and yearn to embrace you."

"You boys want to crucify me? There's a good spot, go for it. I belong to Jesus."

Matthew

"Matthew wrote his Gospel to the Jews in the Hebrew tongue after he had converted Ethiopia and all Egypt. Hircanius, the king, sent someone to kill him with a spear."

Philip

"After years of preaching to the barbarous nations, Philip was stoned, crucified, and buried with his daughter."

Peter

The first of the ten persecutions was stirred up by Nero about 64 A.D. His rage against Christians was so fierce that Eusebius records, "A man might then see cities full of men's bodies, the old lying together with the young, and the dead bodies of women cast out naked without reverence of that sex in the open streets." Many Christians in those days thought that Nero was the Antichrist because of his cruelty and abominations. The Apostle Peter was condemned to death during this persecution. Although some say that he escaped, it is known that many Christians encouraged him to leave the city and the story goes that as he came to the city gates, Peter saw Jesus coming to meet him. "Lord, where are you going?" Peter asked. "I am coming again to be crucified," was the answer. Seeing that his suffering was understood, Peter turned around, returned to the city where Jerome tells us he was crucified upside down at his own request, saying he was not worthy to be crucified the same way his Lord was.

John

"The second persecution began during the reign of Domitian, the brother of Titus. Domitian exiled John to the island of Patmos." It's an actual spot and I've been there. "But on Domitian's death, John was allowed to return to Ephesus in the year A.D. 70. He remained there until the reign of Trajan, governing the churches of Asia, and writing his Gospel until he died at about the age of one hundred."

But at a hundred, he may have had a lot of scars on his body, because before they exiled him, they tried to kill him. They boiled him alive, and he lived through it, so they exiled him for a while. He got out and wrote books of the Bible, as a boiled old man.

We're glad you come and see. You need to go and die.

Father God, I pray for us as a people. We're in a day where we get a lot of come-and-see. There are free sermons on the Internet, classes, training, Christian music, radio stations, radio preachers, church events, mass crusades, services, small groups. It seems, Lord God, like there are more come-and-see opportunities than any people have ever been offered in the history of the world. And God, we rejoice in the come-and-see opportunities. We rejoice that people come to hear the Bible and see lives change through Jesus.

But God, I pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit and the hearts and minds and the lives of our people, that they would respond to your call to become Christians, that they would respond to your call to persevere as Christians, that they would give like Christians should give, that they would serve like Christians should serve, that they would suffer like Christians should suffer, that they would testify like Christians should testify, and Lord God, I pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit on us as a people that we wouldn't just be a come-and-see people, that we'd be a go-and-die people. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Note: This has been a series on 11 Leadership Lessons from 12 Disciples, based on the recent sermon Jesus Calls the Twelve, on Luke 6:12-16.

Red Letter Music

Music from the Mars Hill band Red Letter. Pay what you want and download the full album now from Re:Sound.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
–Proverbs 8:3–4

We often care about other people’s opinion more than we care about God’s opinion. We worry about our status among fellow humans because we fail to grasp our identity in Jesus. When we fear man, we’re vulnerable. (I addressed this issue recently in a sermon about The Parable of the Sower—how fear of man keeps us from bearing fruit in our lives.)

“The fear of man lays a snare,” the Bible says, “but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe” (Proverbs 29:25). Here are eight consequences—snares—that can result from fear of man:

1. Idolatry. When we care about what man thinks more than what God thinks, we turn people into idols that we worship—seeking to please them in order to earn their approval or respect.
2. Ineffectiveness. When we fear man we neglect God’s calling for us and we lose focus on executing the tasks in front of us because we’re too preoccupied with what others are thinking.
3. Lack of love. When we’re overly concerned with “getting it right,” we turn people into projects to accomplish. We withhold our compassion and grow reserved and calculating in our pursuit of people.
4. Fakeness. If you’re overly motivated by the opinions of others, you won’t act like yourself. You’ll be a chameleon, adapting yourself to any situation for the sole purpose of fitting in.
5. Apathy. Fear man and you’ll quit taking risks because of the potential for embarrassment in failure. If an endeavor is unlikely to succeed, you’ll never take the chance. In other words, you’ll never do much of anything.
6. Dishonesty. It’s tough to speak truth into someone’s life because the truth can be painful. If we fear somebody’s response, however, necessary words will remain unsaid because we care more about ourselves (being liked) than we do about the person (seeing Jesus work in their life). This negligence always creates more long-term damage than the hurt it avoids in the present.
7. Isolation. Fear of man won’t let you delegate anything because others might not do a good job (or they might do a better job), which could reflect poorly on your performance and reputation. Fear of man compels you to control everything—even if that means going it alone.
8. Decision Paralysis. When we live out of fear rather than out of the convictions God has given us, we spin in circles unable to move forward.

I invite you to join me in respecting and honoring others and submitting to authority, but also in repenting of our fear of man. Fear and worship are reserved for God. In the end, only his opinion counts.

Find Pastor Jamie on Facebook and Twitter.

Total Church

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis present a vision for churches centered on gospel community. Find out more.

Click through to the Resurgence if you can't see the video.

What should Americans learn from the post-Christian culture of western Europe? In this short interview, Steve Timmis talks about how the church is God's mission strategy and why Americans should learn from Europe.

Total Church

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis present a vision for churches centered on gospel community. Find out more.

In a recent sermon from the Luke Series, Pastor Mark used humor to make fun of legalists and the inclinations to legalism that we all have. He wrote a post on the Mars Hill blog explaining the rationale behind using humor in a sermon this way:

The reason legalism is so insidious and repugnant is that, at its core, it is about us, our team, and our works instead of Jesus. No one, no denomination, and no team is immune from the temptation to pursue their own esteem, righteousness, success, comfort, or power instead of Jesus’ glory and righteousness. So, in this latest sermon we have a good laugh at a lot of religious silliness, and then turn the tables on reverse legalists, who laugh at legalists only to become a new form of legalist.

You can read his whole post at the Mars Hill Blog. Also see the recent post How to Become a Legalist.

Preaching and Mission Connected

Researching Mark Driscoll’s preaching philosophy, I discovered, not surprisingly, that just as he believes preaching cannot be detached from the true church, he also believes that it cannot be disconnected from the church’s mission. How then does Pastor Mark maintain a reformissional focus in his preaching?

Why Do We Resist the Truth?

First, upon discovering the biblical author’s intent, he raises the question, “Why do we resist the truth?” His goal is to predict potential rejection points by the listener with the aim of countering any objections with God’s truth. Then, modeling what he believes to be the scriptural example, he works at understanding the cultural context of his listeners with the intent to communicate these truths in the most effective form. “The gospel,” states Driscoll, “must be contextualized in a way that is accessible to the culture and faithful to the Scriptures.” Therefore, scriptural accuracy remains a must, but so does seeking to be culturally accessible. Contextualizing the gospel in this culturally accessible way will prayerfully enable the preacher, asserts Driscoll, to bring about a “co-opting” of “their cultural hopes” and bring non-believers to see the gospel “as the only answer to their deepest longing.”

Why Does This Matter?

Second, he asks “Why does this matter?” Driscoll incorporates in his messages the biblical mandate for living out the gospel as a missionary from Mars Hill to the city of Seattle and beyond. He counters inactivity by emphasizing the significance of why it matters, both individually and corporately, to be a missional people.

Therefore, Driscoll’s reformissional preaching aim, in his own words, is to connect the message to a “missional purpose for our lives, families, church, and ultimately God’s glory.” Missiological preaching is more than a sermon point shared a few times a year; for Driscoll, missional preaching is the point.

How Is Jesus the Hero?

The final sermon-framing question used by Driscoll to maintain a reformissional focus is “How is Jesus the hero/Savior?” This places the spotlight on the hero of the church’s mission—Jesus. Jesus came as a missionary to culture preaching the gospel and the kingdom of God. Under his authority, preachers live in culture heralding this same message (Matt 28:18–20).

Driscoll asserts, “We derive our authority to preach the gospel to all peoples, times, and places from the glorious exaltation of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus claimed all authority for himself and commanded us to go in his authority to preach the gospel truth.” How serious is Driscoll at embracing this truth? Read his own words: “My answer to everything is pretty much the same: open the Bible and preach about the person of Jesus and his mission for our church.” Thus, for Driscoll, reformissional preaching means lifting up Jesus before the culture as the centerpiece of the Bible, which reveals a unified story that highlights Jesus as the undeniable hero.

What Is Reformissional Preaching?

What then is reformissional preaching? Reformissional preaching is preaching that unpacks the biblical truth, counters the culture’s objections to the truth, reveals the relevance of the truth, and heralds the gospel of the truth incarnate—JESUS—for the conversion of sinners, transformation of saints, and mission of the church.

How about you, pastor? Is your preaching connected to the mission of the church? Is it reformissional?

From Preaching and the Emerging Church, Chapter 7. Mark Driscoll: Reformissional Preaching (pgs. 177-179). Get it here.

Preaching & the Emerging Church

This ebook offers a thorough critique and evaluation of the preaching of four leaders of the emerging church movement. Get it here.