sredden's Comments

swern.com : Ministry in Isolation

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:32:54 +0000

Thanks John. It's not a huge secret who the couple was - Eric and Kimberly Tonn. I'm not sure if you ever met them or not. He came to Denver after finishing at UGA a couple years ago and was excited to get back near family. As for perceptions of ATL and Denver, I think you're right. Your experience shapes your perceptions about a place, but often those perceptions are also shaped by your own actions. Great point. Thanks for reading and for commenting!

swern.com : The Sad Side of Ministry

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:52:02 +0000

Thanks John! Great to hear from you. I appreciate you taking the time to read it, and I'm glad it provided some helpful insight. Hope all is well in Capetown!

swern.com : Tech Notes

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:41:00 +0000

Hahaha! Agreed!

swern.com : A New Paradigm

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:12:25 +0000

Very cool Lisa. If discipleship is something you've been thinking about I'd definitely recommend checking out some of the info from 3DM. In particular the book Building a Discipling Culture was helpful in thinking through developing a language and creating environments for discipleship to happen. I think we need more people bridging the gap between what we understand about spiritual formation and people working in the church to bring that knowledge to bear in discipling relationships that shape and form people. I've been thinking a lot about that...lots more to say in future posts. Thanks for tracking. :-)

swern.com : March Update

Fri, 4 Mar 2011 23:56:44 +0000

Thanks Steve. Hope you and Bianca and Shep are doing great. I probably owe you a phone call to catch up one day. Lots of changes in NP world these days!

swern.com : March Update

Fri, 4 Mar 2011 23:55:14 +0000

Hey Gene, Thanks so much for tracking with us! You'll have to take a road trip and come visit us one day. Hope you, Jackie and the whole fam are doing great.

Reclaiming the Mission : The Attractional Basis of Neo-Reformed Church Plants YES OR NO?: or Don't try this at home if you li

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 17:49:01 +0000

I'll second your comment about Denver Andrew, with some qualifiers. We are definitely finding that some people without any church background are regularly coming to New Denver's Sunday gathering. This is almost completely due to relationships with people in our community who invite them. We still see the weekly gathering as a safe, predictable opportunity for people to introduce their unbelieving friends to our community, but it is not the only or even the best. I'd say we still have more active ongoing connections of influence with non-believers through people living intentional, missional lives in their neighborhoods and workplaces and through our small groups and our young adults mid-sized community than we do from our Sunday service. We recognize that it takes a lot of missional/relational work to get most truly unchurched people to a place that they have any interest in coming to a Sunday service. I think our bigger concern, which is slightly outside the scope of this discussion (but not much), is how what we're doing forms people spiritually and what the effect of a fairly standard Sunday service (i.e. prayer, singing, teaching, sacraments, fellowship) specifically has on forming people for mission. I think you'd agree that if we're going to reach the unchurched people of Denver it will have to be by our community going out and engaging them. They're not going to come to us on their own. Which is I think Dave's main point in this post. Great post Dave. We look forward to seeing you at the Ecclesia national gathering next month.

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : Be Rich...Share Your Story!

Fri, 8 Oct 2010 17:19:28 +0000

I took the $20 I received and invested it in a micro-finance loan through Kiva.org. I chose to invest my money in Gicela Yocedt Vargas Camacho. Gicela is 35 years old and has an 11-year-old son. She is married and lives in the canton of Chillanes, located in the Bolívar province of Ecuador. She requested a loan from Cooperative San Jose, a partner of Kiva.org, to invest in her two businesses – selling clothing and her call center. More specifically, she is asking for the loan to purchase phone cards, pre-paid call time, and to buy clothing to sell. The loan support will provide a better life for her son who is ill. Her dream is to buy a house because she is currently renting a small house. It is difficult because she sometimes does not have the money and is afraid that she won’t be able to support her son or buy medicine because she is somewhat sick as well. If you'd like to read more about Gicela or invest in her loan request go to http://www.kiva.org/lend/236151. When Gicela repays her loan I will reinvest the money in another project. So as long as the loans are re-payed, this $20 can keep benefiting poor and marginalized people trying to provide for themselves and their families indefinitely.

Reclaiming the Mission : ONE SIMPLE ORIENTING QUESTION âWhat is God saying? How will I respond?â: Missional Discipleship

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:56:46 +0000

Thanks to the input of lots of the folks in Ecclesia, this foundational idea of discerning and responding to God in the process of discipleship is something we're wrestling to apply at New Denver currently. It hasn't been easy to figure out how to implement these ideas. One helpful metaphor that my co-pastor at NDC came up with for what we're struggling with is that discipleship is a bit like playing music. On one end of the spectrum you have a regimented perspective focused on learning to play notes, trusting that the music will emerge (classical). This would be the highly structured discipleship process where you take people through the same process and teach them to play the notes (spiritual disciplines and practices both personal and communal). On the other end of the spectrum is a highly improvisational approach (jazz). In discipleship this is a highly organic and non-linear process that is driven by the leadership of the Spirit of God. This seems to be how we see the concepts from Mike Breen and 3DM being applied. The problem is that as with jazz, the best musicians are often classically trained. So it often is with discipleship. People who have journeyed long enough with God to understand and implement disciplines in their life that allow them to hear and respond to God's leadership do best in settings where reflecting and responding communally to the orienting questions is the goal. But most people I'm working with at New Denver are still learning how to do that. So I'm trying to figure out how we could equip our small group leaders to begin thinking this way of reflecting and responding to God's leadership as the goal as they also lead people in ordering their lives around practices which will help them (and the community) better discern God's leadership. I look forward to tracking with you guys as you explore this at Life on the Vine.

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : Denver 2010, the UNconference

Wed, 5 May 2010 22:53:07 +0000

Definitely. We'll come up w/a hash tag to use and we may even have some folks live blogging it.

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : First Annual Wash Park Easter Egg Hunt

Mon, 5 Apr 2010 02:57:59 +0000

Diane, Thank you so much for your kind words. We had a great time, and as I looked through over 1000 pictures that our photographers took it's clear that a lot of kids and adults had a great time too! We know that anytime you do an event it's impossible to please everyone, and we're grateful for all the feedback and promise to use it to make next year even better!! Thanks again, Stephen

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : First Annual Wash Park Easter Egg Hunt

Sun, 4 Apr 2010 02:01:33 +0000

Hi Megan (and anyone who left today feeling a bit disappointed), The truth is that we were totally blown away by the turnout today. Based on our research of other similar neighborhood egg hunts we were hoping to have a few hundred kids show up. As you saw we had easily 2-3 times that many. We purchased 3000 eggs and several dozen individual bags of candy as a backup. If we had guessed right, there would have been more than enough eggs, but as you saw the swarm of kids blew threw all the 3000 eggs as soon as we opened the hunt at 1:00, and the candy was gone shortly after that. I'm not sure how you missed the snacks, games, and face painting - they were all located over in the picnic area behind the egg hunt area. Even after the eggs were gone hundreds of people hung out and had snacks, got pictures with the Easter Bunny, and enjoyed a beautiful day in the park (all at absolutely no charge to anyone). I hate that some people left disappointed, but keep in mind this is the first year we've done this event. We will take all your comments and make next year even better. Stephen Redden on behalf of the New Denver staff and volunteers

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : First Annual Wash Park Easter Egg Hunt

Sat, 3 Apr 2010 14:29:32 +0000

We'll have a few light snacks and some drinks, and of course the kids will get candy inside the eggs. But we're not providing a meal.

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : First Annual Wash Park Easter Egg Hunt

Fri, 2 Apr 2010 22:39:27 +0000

Hi Lulu, Quick update, I was wrong about the entrance to the park - the entrance on the west side at Downing and Kentucky is for bikes only. The car entrance is on the east side of the park at Mississippin and Franklin. Here's the link to Google maps: http://j.mp/a2ClxS

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : First Annual Wash Park Easter Egg Hunt

Fri, 2 Apr 2010 01:09:56 +0000

Hi Sarah, I know our parents told us that you can't get something for nothing (at least mine did), but in this case mom and dad would be wrong! We're putting on this event totally FREE of charge to everyone who participates - no hidden costs, fees, expectations, or strings attached! We just love Easter and we love the Wash Park neighborhood, so we thought this was a great way to show it.

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : First Annual Wash Park Easter Egg Hunt

Thu, 1 Apr 2010 18:27:55 +0000

Hi lulu, If you're driving the closest entrance to the park is on the west side of the park at the intersection of South Downing and East Kentucky (here's a link http://bit.ly/a7IsUr). We'll be located on the south side of the park near picnic area #3, south of the road that cuts across the park.

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : First Annual Wash Park Easter Egg Hunt

Thu, 1 Apr 2010 03:31:13 +0000

Hi Jessica, Our plan is to welcome everyone, do some logistical instructions, and then start the egg hunt. It will probably be around 1:30pm.

Soul City Blog : Church on the Cheap

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:39:24 +0000

Jarrett, I can't believe you did a whole post on 'church on the cheap' and gave no love to Google!! At New Denver Church we use Google's hosted services for our email, calendering, and shared documents. We also use Google Analytics to keep up with who's coming our site and what they're reading.Plus thanks to Google Voice I now have a local Denver number without having to change my cell phone. All that stuff is 100% F-R-E-E. Love it. I understand the appeal of Clover sites, but I'm still a huge proponent of Wordpress. With all the template designers out there now it's so easy to get a site up and going on the cheap. We bought a Wordpress theme for $70, paid a designer a couple hundred to design our logo and update the theme to match, and we were done. Admittedly not quite as slick as Clover sites, but way more flexible, customizable, and changing our look is as simple as getting a new theme. Excited to see you guys launching out. As someone here told us, "Church planting is way more fun and way harder than you could ever imagine!"

swern.com : Growing Tomatoes

Wed, 8 Jul 2009 22:33:17 +0000

You're doing better than me - I'm still staring at 9 little green tomatoes that refuse to ripen as fast as I want them too! ;-)

ChurchCrunch : Flickering Pixels - Group Blogging Project - Chapter 9

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:01:41 +0000

Jay, The problem is that in our celebrity-obsessed culture, we don't let our celebrities (even if they are our pastor) be normal humans. We afford celebrities great esteem and privilege (as Shane points out, for sometimes dubious reasons), and over time, this begins to shape the decisions people make. Consciously or subconsciously, subtly or not-so-subtly, their focus is drawn toward maintaining and improving their image to perpetuate or grow their celebrity. This can lead to disastrous decisions. I saw Ted Haggard speak at Q recently and was struck by how his life illustrated this point. Ted, like all of us, has inner demons that he has struggled with for a lifetime. But as his celebrity grew as a pastor, it isolated him from finding help to overcome these struggles. He said that over the years he went to people close to him at his church to share his struggles, but they couldn't accept that he had struggles or offer him any help. They told him to pray more or to spend more time working at the church to distract him from his struggles. As his private struggles and poor decisions became public, it became clear that he had spent inordinate amounts of energy managing his image and hiding his struggles to maintain his celebrity. It was amazing how joyful that he seemed to be now that he doesn't have to carry that weight, even given the hell he's been through. It also became clear that the leadership around him at New Life had also made very poor decisions in an effort to manage his image. In the end, the whole thing toppled like the house of cards that it was. What is the answer? I'm not sure there is an easy answer. This is a tension that we all must manage, but for those of us who work in ministry, I think John 3:27-30 is helpful: "To this John replied, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ[j] but am sent ahead of him.' The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less." We must always decrease so that Christ may increase. Our image and our celebrity must take a back seat to the priorities of following Christ and leading others in that pursuit. If you want a really good example of what that looks like, take a look at http://ysmarko.com/2009/the-end-of-ysmarko/ -Stephen p.s. For full disclosure, I worked under Andy's leadership at North Point for seven years and think he does an incredible job of fighting his own celebrity. One of the things that made following him so compelling was his humility and seeing up close that he really lives the things he teaches others to pursue. Though I didn't know him well, I knew that he had people close to him who would challenge him and tell him the truth. One of the things he regularly taught us was that in ministry all we had was our moral authority - authority derived from our words and actions aligning. He instilled a healthy fear in all of us (which I believe he carries himself) that we were all just a decision or two from compromising our moral authority and thereby our ministry. Given the scope and weight of Andy's ministry influence, I can't imagine the weight that must be to carry for him.

sredden's Comments

swern.com : Ministry in Isolation

swern.com : The Sad Side of Ministry

swern.com : Tech Notes

swern.com : A New Paradigm

swern.com : March Update

swern.com : March Update

Reclaiming the Mission : The Attractional Basis of Neo-Reformed Church Plants YES OR NO?: or Don't try this at home if you li

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : Be Rich...Share Your Story!

Reclaiming the Mission : ONE SIMPLE ORIENTING QUESTION âWhat is God saying? How will I respond?â: Missional Discipleship

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : Denver 2010, the UNconference

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : First Annual Wash Park Easter Egg Hunt

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : First Annual Wash Park Easter Egg Hunt

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : First Annual Wash Park Easter Egg Hunt

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : First Annual Wash Park Easter Egg Hunt

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : First Annual Wash Park Easter Egg Hunt

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : First Annual Wash Park Easter Egg Hunt

WordPress blog at newdenver.org : First Annual Wash Park Easter Egg Hunt

Soul City Blog : Church on the Cheap

swern.com : Growing Tomatoes

ChurchCrunch : Flickering Pixels - Group Blogging Project - Chapter 9

Reclaiming the Mission : ONE SIMPLE ORIENTING QUESTION âWhat is God saying? How will I respond?â: Missional Discipleship