Christian Theology/Renewal

1. Students will submit, in a single sentence, the topic they would like to write on the research paper. Additionally, students must include an initial list of 10 resources they plan to use. Here are some examples of topics you can choose from:

The Purpose of the Lord’s Supper

All right, we should be on recording. This is our second session for PMIN 639. Today we’ll be going over some of the disk elements so that you can apply those and see how that works.

We’ll also go over the assignment real quick and then I want to take a quick look, if we can, at week five’s assignment, just so I’m not leaving you out in the cold there, in that you’re able to, if you have any questions, ask those questions. That exercise, that practical, I’ve received really good feedback from several people that they did it with their churches and found it really, really invigorating. So hopefully it will for you too.

• But before we begin, let me go ahead and open us up in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for our time together. As we were just talking about storms, not just the figurative storms of life, but the real ones that come about, we want to pray for Rose and her whole area that they would be protected from any type of damage or catastrophic events.

We just ask even for her electricity to stay on. Anybody who is in harm’s way within that area, would you protect them and guide them? We ask that the things that we say, would they be edifying and build one another up as we are brothers and sisters in Christ? Help us to say things that are out of love, out of building one another up into learning and understanding. And may we do these things so that we can glorify you and exalt you.

And would your Holy Spirit now be present with us, illuminating us and guiding us in these discussions? It’s in Christ’s name we pray. Amen. All right, so let me go ahead and share my screen here.

Okay, so now my share screen—all right, one second. Yeah, let me—okay, that’s better. And away we go.

Now we’re good. All right, yeah, got that. Russ, glad to have you.

Glad to have all of you. So, if you didn’t know, like, these are all graded. If you haven’t, you know, I always say to all my students, to all of you guys, that I’m for you, not against you.

So, I want to see you succeed. So, if you’ve missed an assignment, we’re still early in the course. If you’ve missed assignment, if you haven’t submitted something in for a Zoom session, you can do that and you can send it right to me.

You don’t have to, you know, fill it out in a document. You can fill it out in an email if you want. I’ll try to make it as easy as possible as I can.

However, it is really good, you know, if you do submit it and you want to do it that way. That was done by several students last time. But if you need to, you can submit it in the grade section or you can just send it to me.

In an email. And it’s just basically a summary of what we’re discussing. Because these times together are really our practical time where we get to go through things.

And for me to benefit you on any level that I can. So, with that said, and discussions, if you’ve missed the discussion board, week one or week two, please put something in. And even if I don’t award you full points, I can award points.

You know, I know professors that won’t do that. But once again, I’m for you, not against you. I’d rather you do the work and then put something in than not put anything in at all.

Because at least now you’re going through the concepts and the principles instead of just saying, well, you get a zero, you didn’t put it in. I’d rather you do it than work that way. It just works out for me.

I think that you’re at least you’re applying the concepts that are there. Okay. So, what we’re going to do is look at first what’s new this week, this disc.

And I don’t know if I have to, sometimes I have to move the little thing over, but everybody can see the screen. We’re all good? Good. Thank you, Janice.

Yeah, this is an assessment. Now, let’s remember, I say it in all my classes, an assessment is just a tool. It’s not to tell you how superior you are or how inferior you are.

It’s not to tell you whether you’re rejected or accepted into something. I know that there’s a lot of church planning organizations that can use, that they do utilize the disc. But also there are some organizations that discredit individuals that they’re not getting the exact assessment results that they want.

Now, if they’re an organization and their criteria is X, whatever that is, so be it. I wouldn’t worry about that. And if it’s because you need funding or something, there’s courses that I’m teaching where you can even learn how to go after funding and things like that.

And I help with that as well. But don’t neglect what God wants you to do first and maybe put blinders on and say, oh, it has to be this organization. And the organization happens to say, well, we don’t think you’re a right fit at the time.

I would obey God more than any organization. And I say that with kind of a grand, I think one of our books is by one of my good friends, Peyton Jones in this course, and Peyton will tell you, he was turned down by a church planning organization saying that he wasn’t the right fit. And we laugh about it.

We’re like, it’s hysterical. Like he’s planned churches before, you know, we just kind of laugh. So I just tell you that because I don’t want you to take this.

And so we’re going to look at some things tonight or this afternoon, wherever you are. And I don’t want you to feel inadequate or like, oh, I don’t have the right one. There isn’t a right.

So I just want you to look at and be as honest as you can with your assessments, because it’s only a tool and a tool is only as good as its use. So after you complete the disk, there’s a link there. You can go on to the link and take the assessment.

After you take the assessment, go to Malfer’s book, and you’ll see in those pages, there’s a temperament tool. It’s another temperament one that’s there. And you’re five to seven pages.

And you can see why if you go down to look what the paper should have in it, you know, your title page shouldn’t be page one. That should be a blank page. And same thing with your TOC, your table of contents.

Really, your first numbered page starts with introduction, like I have here. And remember, introduction is only you’re just going to be summarized what the paper is going to be about. You don’t need to write two, three, four paragraphs for an introduction.

It should be one, possibly two at the most for your introduction. Make it concise and just talk about what you’re going to, the paper is going to reflect upon. Now, you don’t tell me what the disk model is.

I know what it is, right? So we know that. I want to, you talk about maybe, you know, this paper will identify the behavioral components from the disk model that apply to me and to revitalization or whatever it may be that you’re looking at. Let’s see, what else? Yeah, I wrote in here first person because I want to know what you think.

I don’t want to, you don’t have to write third person in this. This isn’t, these are practicums. Like I want to know about you because I want to help you.

So when I read through it, I can make comments on it. So you would put down whatever your dominant, and I wrote temperament. You know, that could be confusing, but whatever your, whatever’s looked at in the temperament and whatever’s looked at in the disk, whatever is the highest in the scoring that you want to note those, right? And assess how the disk assessment results can propel renewal or revitalization or maybe replanting.

Yeah, I said that one. So you would have basically one to two pages on what your assessments, what the results told you about yourself and about how you can revitalize or plant with now having that understanding of what that is. For instance, I’ll give you, I’ll give you this.

Why is it important? I would say it’s important in the same manner as especially if you’re revitalizing, when you’re revitalizing a church, you probably have some type of leadership, whether it’s deacons or elders, whatever you call them or committees. And when we work together, we’re going to look at this in the week five vision that we go through when you work together, which is what you’re hoping to do when revitalizing. You’re bringing everybody on not only on board at the same level, but you’re also tapping into the common themes that the spirit is working through the collective whole.

And so people will have different gifts and different talents or different behaviors, and they can help be highly beneficial for a revitalization. And we’ll get into some of that in a moment, like why, why that would be, whether it’s I or D or S or C. And then applicational insight, like what, yeah, definitely what you learn and then how that’s going to apply. So I would say ministry application should be.

Probably at least one full, it should be. And remember, you’re, you’re double, you know, it’s a Turabian format, so it’s not single space, it’s double space. Right.

So one page really isn’t asking for that much. And if you do use any type of sources, you need a bibliography. If you want to put in, if you want to like take a screenshot of your disc results from your computer, you can do that and put that in your appendix.

This way, when you’re writing, you could say, see appendix A. It doesn’t give you like added bonus points or anything, but it is, it is good for me. Sometimes I can look at, look back and I can see it and say, okay, I see where, where they were with that. Let me say this quick to about bibliography, just so that you know, you’re all graduate students.

Some of you are already doctoral successes. So you already know that, that anything that you put in quotes should have a citation. Right.

So if you put it in quotes, even if you’re saying such and such said, blah, blah, blah. Where’d you get that quote from? You know, it’s rare that we use common knowledge quotations. But even if we, we did, I might say, as it’s been said, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But then I’d still need a quote. I’d still need a citation. Like who said that? Is it in a book somewhere? Did I find it? So search the internet.

If you really are dying to put a quote in, um, find a source for it. Right. Let’s, let’s be a master’s level students.

Let’s see. Yeah. Anything that’s not common knowledge and real and realistically, like, I think a lot of times we think things are common knowledge and we’re like, that needs a citation.

Um, yeah. Jesse Gallops is one of the world reliefs who I work with. We use Gallop strengths and, uh, and I love that.

Yeah. It really tells me a lot about myself. So that’s all these are.

These are just assessments that, uh, like I said, a tool that’s going to tell you about yourself so that it’s going to help you not only communicate with others, but, uh, understand your perspective, see the world through, through, um, your lenses, any questions on that paper? Cause it’s due this week. So I want to make sure we answer those. All right, good.

Hopefully you’re already at work at that. Hopefully you’ve already taken the, your, your desk, um, assessment already week five. This is the vision lens practicum.

So, uh, let me make sure there’s not. Yeah. So, uh, Jesse notes, uh, Romans 12 gifts that have been given out.

So, so there are three different types of gifts that you see in the Bible. There’s administrative gifts, Romans 12, there’s, um, first Corinthians 12 gifts that are manifestations of the spirit. And then there are gifts given by Christ Ephesians, um, and Ephesians four.

So, uh, there are different modes. Like some say like father gave one spirit and then, uh, Christ possible. Uh, but we do see that Romans 12 are admitted more administrative.

Um, they’re more vocational, uh, sort of looking and then you have manifestations and first Corinthians 12. Uh, and one of the courses that I teach you actually get into that. Yeah.

Going through those things. So, um, but not as much on this side, week five, your vision lens is meant to be a practicum that you work with someone else. And I know you are all online, uh, students and that can be difficult, but I’ll, I’ll say this, the reason for this, even if I’ve had students that are like, Hey, I don’t have a church at the moment.

I don’t have really anyone that I could work with. Could I use someone in my family? And I, and I say, I hate to do that, but I would allow it if, if it was the last case scenario, for this reason only though, because I would want to then take this and apply it later on in life. When you get to that moment where you need to have a solid vision and mission for the church or even nonprofit or organization that you’re working with, even if you’re not going to utilize like, uh, Hey, we’re not really looking for a vision statement or a mission statement.

What it is going to help you to do is find the commonalities in how the spirit is working in individuals. So, um, if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s, it’s in the book. And, uh, one of the best ways to, to go through it is to, if you’re going to share this with someone, I would say, take a picture like on your phone or something of it, or if you have the ebook, a screenshot it, and then you can share it with others and they can fill it out.

And then you come back together, like you email it to them, and then you come back and tell them to fill it out. And then you come back together on like a zoom call or something along those lines. And then you say, what does everyone have written down for theirs? And if they share them, or they can send them back to you, right? If they can’t make a meeting, they can send them back to you and what you would do.

So we do this with a whiteboard and I ask everyone seated, uh, to go through it quietly and they go through it and they’re all writing it down for the values and for strategy and for other things. And then I would say, okay, uh, go up to the board, first person, go up to the board, write down your values, second person, you go write down your values, third person, fourth person, fifth person. And then I walk over and I start circling the same exact words that are in there.

Now that gives me a gauge to understand that the spirit of God is working in and through not just me, but through others. And so I’m like, okay, I see how all of us are seeing that this one thing. So that means it’s important.

And this is going to keep us aligned. Everybody’s invested into that one thing. They, they understand that now there could be several and that’s good.

But when you look at core values, we’re not looking at, um, doctrine necessarily. Like I’m not going to say, well, we believe the gospel is important. Obviously what you’re saying for core values is what are you doing that you cannot do without, right? Like what is the inspiration or what is it like, is it like we serve community and we can’t be who we are without serving community, right? Um, we are effectively going to, uh, deaf individuals as a deaf ministry, right? That’s, that’s who we are.

We can’t do without that, right? So that’s going to be a core value. That’s going to be something that’s there. It’s not necessarily a dogmatic.

These are practical things. And then strategy. Well, how are you going to achieve that? Right? What are some strategies that you’re going to do to achieve that? And then second, and then third measurables, because you have to have measurable.

How would, how do you know when you’ve achieved it? What’s it going to look like? And so each person’s going to go through that and write these down that they have now, someone could have seven, some may have three. Uh, some people can get stuck on some of these and say, I can only come up with three. Okay.

Okay. Then this is why it’s good. If you have more than one person that’s working with you, uh, and then mission, you know, where’s, where do we think God is taking us? But, um, you’re going to see in your book mission is also direction, right? So I’ve labeled it in the book direction instead of what you see here, but, but it really is the mission because that is where, where do you see that God is taking you in three to five years? What’s that going to look like? Right.

And you can follow along and go through the book describes that. Can I apply this to my fit? Absolutely. Yeah.

Working in simple similar initial. Yeah, this is, um, I mean, I think this works all the way across the board, really what it’s doing. And, and Jesse, your, your brain is probably firing right now, like a million miles an hour thinking like I can take this and adapt it.

And I would say, go for it because anytime we, you know, you can even create these for any, any of you can take these principles right. And then adapt them because I always say these things that I give, if they’re not contextual, if they’re not able to be contextualized or adaptable, then they’re no good because I don’t want cookie cutters. What I wouldn’t want is someone to be like, no, no, you have to do fret wells.

That’s it. Like, no, I’m giving you, um, you know, some fodder here, some food for thought and saying, Hey, chew on this and think about this and how you can adapt it for that. But obviously for this, um, this assignment, follow it and go through the way the assignment does.

And then some light bulbs may come on, you know, for you later on to say, Hey, I can really take this and, and do something else with that. Right. And then, and you can work with it from there.

So, um, do you have any questions at this point, how that works and what you’re looking for? Cause we won’t meet again until I think like week seven is our next one. And we only have three of these assigned. I just want to be clear.

Um, are we looking at these, the questions that are in chapter four to give out to our group that we’re talking about, or is it something that we need to download? You’re going to look exactly like in the book. You should, I’m looking at page 33. It’s page.

Mine says page one 19. Are you on the ebook? No. Yeah.

So in the, in the regular book turned to one 19. Okay. Should say appendices, right.

And that’s the assessment one vision lens. Okay. Okay.

Yeah. So it’s from that one to one 24. Yeah.

And so like, if you just took like a, I used to do all this in a PDF format and it was a tiny bit easier. Um, what happened was the publisher publisher stink, by the way, um, they really do. Yeah.

Publisher was like, well, you can’t give, give your students, you know, that thing for free as it is. And, and that kind of angered me because the whole reason why I even write books was for students to have that. And so, um, I wrote three books with them, which should have been one book.

And they, they turned it into three, this side, they’re all volumes and there’s three. So there’s like 390 or 411 pages. And it was supposed to be one, one big, um, book and they, it, they divided it into three.

Why? Well, I got a church planning class, right. So we can use a book for that one. You got a, a revitalization class, got a book for that one.

I got a missions class and I got a book for that one. Yeah. That is what it is.

And it’ll make you a little bit is what it is. Um, anyway, I don’t, that’s another, that’s another, um, okay. So let me just tell you when you get into, when you get into writing and writing books and doing those, yeah.

Be, be prepared. Um, sometimes doing your work and, uh, doing indie publishing, which means individual by yourself is not a bad idea. It really isn’t anyway.

Um, what you’re to get out of this is really, um, a group collective Holy spirit inspired, uh, vision and mission for your church. And I, uh, or for the, the strategy that you’re, you know, the plant that you’re working for, uh, or working with, or even an organization. So if I, if I’m using this like a little bit more like Jesse and I have a board, I put, I have the board go through it together, you know, uh, as a nonprofit or something, and it helps us to stay aligned.

Yeah. So any other questions? All right. Fantastic.

We’ll get into our thing. So, um, why do we want to use these disc ones? I like, I think disc is the most simple. Um, it’s the, it probably the easiest to discern.

It’s not as exhaustive. It’s not like Enneagram or, you know, it’s nothing. It’s really not very exhaustive.

As I just said, it’s a, it’s simple to understand. Um, and it’s, it’s helpful. And so, uh, what I said before, like there are four main behavioral styles, no style is superior to another.

Um, everybody is going to have all four of them. You’re just going to, one’s going to be higher than the other, right. You’re going to see the D and I and S and a C it’s not like, um, you know, a pest where you’re looking through that and you’re like, Oh, I really have, uh, you know, an evangelist gifting online, but this is different.

This is, these are behavioral components. And so it shows you how much you, um, really adhere to that behavioral component in your life. So the, the dominant temperament is the person’s natural, quote unquote, gravitational style.

That’s what you gravitate toward the most. Ideally, most people actively engage in their top two daily activity, you know, um, daily in their daily activities, at least two of those temperaments. Uh, and then understanding the styles, I believe help people can be, I know for me, but I’ve been doing this for so long.

If you, if you ever get to the stage where you can start teaching these things or writing assessments, you can really see people pretty quickly. And you’re like, Oh, okay. And, and so when I have core groups, like, Hey, you know what, you would be excellent if you could help in this area.

And they’re like, really, you think so? I’m like, Oh yeah, you’re good at this, this, and this, you know, and they’re like, Oh, I didn’t see that. I don’t really feel comfortable on it. I said, you know, uh, Paul tells Timothy fan, the flame of the gift that’s in you means that sometimes there’s going to be a little bit of uncomfortableness, uh, in, in branching out with that.

But we’re, we’re to fan that flame, the gifts that are there. So that means put them to really to good use, right? Uh, these help us understand our own perspectives. And like I said, our comfort zones, maybe there’s things that we’re really comfortable at.

I can tell you, I was at a high letter, uh, about 20 years ago and I started working on this and they, a lot of, a lot of trainers would tell you not to do that, that you should invest in your dominant ones. But I’m so competitive with myself that I saw that I was high in one of them. I won’t admit yet which one, but I was so high in one of them, uh, and a little bit lower in the other that I started really pressing in on weaknesses in one area that now I’m high in that area and a little lower than the other one.

Um, it’s not as easy as you think to just change like that, your behavioral styles. And some would say you can’t do it, but I can tell you that I have. And, um, it’s been just this process.

Uh, for me, it’s always about applying my end of my weaknesses and pressing into my weaknesses to become better, you know, at the things that I’m weak at. And then it’s just, but most trainers will, with these will tell you, don’t do that. Focus on what your, what your, uh, dominant one is and utilizing those dominant traits.

Um, I’m going to tell you the way you feel led, you use those. And, uh, if you want to do what I did, that’s fine, but just understand this, that none of them are superior to the other. So why would you want to do it for me? I can tell you that there was an, there was a, uh, an underlying motive, which I’ll get to in a moment, but here’s what disc really means.

You have your D I S and C D personalities are a dominant people. Um, we’re going to get in that more dominating toward even, uh, groups that they come into, uh, eyes are very influential people, more charisma, magnetic personalities. They draw people to them, uh, as a real steady personality, uh, probably someone who is organizational.

Uh, and then there’s conscientious like there, there, uh, can, these can be like sort of, uh, deep thinkers on things and type a kind of personalities as well. But these, you know, the way that these are described, this comes straight from the site. So there’s deep personalities tend to be confident and place an emphasis on accomplishing bottom line results.

If you’re one of those people like me, and you have like a ton of different post-it notes all over your desk and tons of lists and you’re crossing them off and you may be D uh, right. So, uh, people that are, I tend to be more open and place an emphasis on relationships and influencing on persuading others. S personalities tend to be dependable and place the emphasis on cooperation and sincerity.

Uh, a C personality.

3. (Discussion Board Post) (350 words) (APA citation) (in-text citations are a must)

Regarding church growth and decline, Clifton states that the contemporary church has a “discipleship problem” (Reclaiming Glory, 7).

What biblical passage of a fruit tree does Clifton believe relates to dying churches and the lack of disciple-making? Read the passage.

Discerning the vinedresser’s interruption of the vineyard owner’s proclamation, how might this passage convey church revitalization and renewal?

Jones declared, “When the Holy Spirit is on the move, it’s a restoration of power through the people” (Reaching the Unreached, 52).

What was Jones inferring?

How would a restoration of power assist in transforming a dying church?

Identify one practical way that your ministry could experience “restoration power”?

4. (Discussion Board Replies) (300 words per reply) (APA citation) (in-text citations are a must)

Week 4: Assignment – Discussion Board Resurrection, Church Growth and Decline, Restoration of Power

          I enjoyed this week’s readings, the merging-churches video, and the discussion board questions. Mark Clifton author of “Reclaiming Glory states that the contemporary church has a “discipleship problem”, regarding church growth and decline. The discipleship problem is one of which he refers to as disciples not making disciples. People share the gospel with other people. Clifton discusses 1 Thessalonians 2:8 where Paul describes disciple making. “So we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” This is a perfect description of what we do and why when we share the gospel with others. It’s because we care for them and because God has commanded that we love others and through that love, we share what Christ has done for us.

•           The biblical passage in Luke chapter 13 where Jesus speaks about the parable of a barren fig tree  Clifton believes this passage of scripture relates to dying churches and the lack of disciple-making. In this passage of scripture, the vineyard’s owner tells the vinedresser since the tree is not barring fruit then he should cut it down. Clifton says we can have similar expectations of churches that are not growing. Just close them.
•              In discerning the vinedresser’s interruption of the vineyard owner’s proclamation, this passage conveys church revitalization and renewal to be given another chance. The Vinedresser asks for one more year. In that year the vinedresser knew he would have to break up the hard ground and provide nutrients to the soil. In other words, take special care of the tree to help it to produce fruit. This is the same thing we as pastors as leaders of churches that are not producing fruit have to do. Clifton says” Faced with the removal of the tree that vinedresser is ready to take action. “ It is an interesting statement that Clifton makes when he says” Why he didn’t do that before is anyone’s guess?”  That question stood out to me because I am working on discipleship at my church. What I am learning in this class is confirmation. This class reinforces what I’ve been learning: discipleship isn’t a solo act. It requires the collective power of testimonies from our existing disciples alongside my leadership to inspire others. We have to first break up the hard places. That starts with identifying what are the hard places in our church.

Blessings!

Janis Barnes

5. (Discussion Board Replies) (300 words per reply) (APA citation) (in-text citations are a must)

Greetings Class,

• Mark Clifton in his book Reclaiming Glory writes, “A church that is not producing fruit does not accurately reflect God’s glory.”1 A healthy church should always be reflected by the fruit of the people within it. Clifton addressed that a main reason that churches are dying is due to a discipleship problem.2 Clifton used Matthew 28:19-20 to address this discipleship issue. The Great Commission has a central command to go and make disciples of all nations. This command to make disciples is not an option. People need to be discipled to effectively reach their communities themselves.
• Clifton goes into detail about the story of the vinedresser in Luke 13 and how it can relate to the church today.3 Many churches and pastors just want to cut down the bad vine rather than trying to tend to the soil. The amazing part of the parable referenced is the vinedresser intervenes and has another year to tend the soil. In churches today, pastors need to be willing to revitalize churches because a dying church does not bring glory to God, but a fruitful church does.
• Peyton Jones in his book Reaching the Unreached talks about the power of the Holy Spirit flowing through a believer and how it is restorative to the believer. Jones speaks to the origin of power in the church by writing, “The apostles modeled the power of a life consumed with the Holy Spirit, and they fully lived for God, which shouted louder than their words.”4 This is the model that was laid out for us within scriptures. Time and time again there was power displayed by followers of Jesus followed by a Gospel conversation, not the other way around. Power solidifies the work that has already begun in the person being ministered to. Jones addresses how that original power is being restored today by writing, “Earthly revolutions chant to restore power in the people but when the Holy Spirit is on the move, it’s a restoration of power through the people. As the Holy Spirit is channeled through people, his outlet is their gifts.”5

This restoration of power could greatly benefit dying churches today. I had been a part of a church that was stagnant for years, but as soon as they started utilizing the power of the Holy Spirit, the church grew in every known metric. People that are impacted by the Holy Spirit tend to tell others about it. Peter, once he was filled with power, preached a sermon where 3,000+ people were saved. That is the restoration of power available for all of us today. Churches today need to utilize that power to pray for the sick and see people healed. They need to utilize this power to cast out demons from the oppressed. Lastly, they need to use this power for boldness to reach the lost.