Book Review - "Shaped by God's Heart"

Milfred Minatrea is the Director of the Missional Church Center for the Baptist General Convention of Texas. He has previously served as a pastor and is a church consultant.

I was given this book by Sylvan Knobloch at IBSA and I have found it to be very helpful. The book is laid out in three main parts:
(1) The Church in a New and Changing World
(2) The Nine Essential Practices of Missional Churches
(3) Structures and Strategies for Becoming Missional

In a recent article, I summarized Minatrea's definition of "Missional" (an adjective for being 'On Mission') as basically meaning that while we still "send" and "support" missionaries to every part of the world (as we traditionally have); we also "see" ourselves as missionaries where we are, and we "serve" as missionaries where we are as well.

I found Part Two of the book to be the most practical, and therefore the most helpful. Minatrea's "Nine Essential Practices of Missional Churches" include:
(1) Have a High Threshold for Membership
(2) Be Real, not Real Religious
(3) Teach to Obey Rather Than to Know
(4) Rewrite Worship Every Week
(5) Live Apostolically
(6) Expect to Change the World
(7) Order Actions According to Purpose
(8) Measure Growth by Capacity to Release, Not Retain
(9) Place Kingdom Concerns First

I personally found #1 and #3 to be the most helpful, and #4 the least helpful, since I am a big fan of Bible-ordered worship!

All in all, this is a very helpful book. I believe that if we are going to reach post-Christian America in the 21st Century, we are not going to accomplish it through 19th Century methods. I would recommend that you invest the time to read this book and carefully think through the ideas contained within it. I hope you will gain valuable insights and that you will seek to apply those you believe to be helpful.

Reflecting on the North Central States Rally

Over the past three days, Adam Cruse, Mitch and Linda Flesch, Penny Davis, Wes Feltner, Clif Jones, Chris Vieth, and I joined the IBSA Staff along with about 300 other Illinois Baptists at the North Central States Rally in Indianapolis, IN. This is a tri-annual meeting of State and Associational leaders for training, worship, and fellowship.

This event was a great success. We heard inspiring and biblical messages from key SBC leaders including Thom Rainer of LifeWay; Robert Smith of Beeson Divinity School; Ed Stetzer of LifeWay Research (and just about everywhere else); Geoff Hammond of NAMB; and Fermin Whittaker of the California Baptist Convention. In addition, 52 Break-out sessions were offered with everyone having the opportunity to attend up to six of their choosing. Lots of practical lessons were taught and hopefully caught by those who attended!

I found these sessions to be of great value. I trust that this event will produce fruit in the life of those who attended for years to come. Dr. Nate Adams and the IBSA Staff ought to be congratulated for the wonderful impact of this meeting. They both worked hard and invested heavily in equipping Assocational leaders from all over Illinois.

Because of the sale of the Johnson Property, we have funds available to assist members of our affiliated churches who would like to attend various training events in Illinois and across the Nation. I hope you will take advantage of these opportunities.

*Note: You will soon be able to view and download the key messages and some of the break-out sessions at www.ibsa.org