in Christ: Andrew Fountain's blog

Newfrontiers Leadership Conference 2006 - Training Track 5-1

I found this a fascinating session, but I had one important reservation which I will explain in a moment. Sam argues that the way we communicate with those who have an oral culture is fundamentally different with those from a literate culture. He gives many examples taken from life and makes his points clearly. What gives this subject added relevancy is his statement that

Newfrontiers Leadership Conference 2006 - Training Track 6-3

This session was so useful (especially for me in my current situation) that I decided to make much more detailed notes. I think that most of his points are of value to any church leadership, not just those who are church planting.

Newfrontiers Leadership Conference 2006 - Training Track 4-2

This is a very practical session with many good suggestions as to how local churches can do an excellent job at supporting missions.

Newfrontiers Leadership Conference 2006 - Training Track 5-3

This is one of the best messages that I have heard David Devenish give. He condenses a lot of material into half a session. Although the primary application is for missions, what he says is universally relevant and I found it very interesting. I have written about it on my blog posting on worldview and story.

Newfrontiers Leadership Conference 2006 - Training Track 6-2

This was a very focussed session by Tony Thompson drawing from his experiences of church planting. He identified three key prerequisites to a successful plant:

1. Leadership (which means more than just one man)
2. A people (enough people who are committed to being part of the church)
3. A strategy

Well worth a listen for anyone who is involved, or thinking about being involved in a church plant.

Newfrontiers Leadership Conference 2006 - Training Track 6-1

As someone who is leading a church plant right now, I found this tremendously helpful. There was no single theme, just lots of good ideas, principles and practical advice. Much of it was illustrated with stories from his own experiences.

Click here for the free download page at Newfrontiers

Newfrontiers Leadership Conference 2006 - Training Track 4-1

Once David gets into his material, it is a well-reasoned Biblical theology of missions. The argument is roughly as follows:

• God himself is missional and therefore it is not an option for us
• 70 nations are listed in the table of nations in Genesis, (after Babel).
• God tells Abraham he is to be a blessing to all the nations
• Israel are given this mandate (they are to be a light to the nations)
  • They fail
• Jesus came to fulfill this mandate
  • he appointed 12 disciples as the foundations for the New Covenant people of God (which as we know parallels the 12 tribes)
  • he then sent out the 70
  • this number is no accident
• Multiple languages were the curse of Babel
  • but the gift of tongues tells us that every language is a vehicle for the gospel
  • in fact God’s desire is that every language should praise him!
  • it takes all the languages of the world to praise God!

He then goes on to describe how this impacts the local church. This seminar is a good foundation to an important topic and I found it interesting and helpful.

Newfrontiers Leadership Conference 2006 - Training Track 3-3

This seminar gets a five-star rating! Lex talks about God’s promise of the help of the Holy Spirit, and then spends the first half of the talk describing several healings in detail. The stories are very different and he uses them to illustrate the diversity in the ways God works. I found this extremely uplifting was filled with praise to God.

The second half is on the practical “how-to” of healing. Lex considers four theories which are widely taught today:

Newfrontiers Leadership Conference 2006 - Training Track 3-2

Stephen begins with a set of arguments against those who say that large churches are a bad thing. He points out that if you are going to grow as a church, it is essential that you want to grow. He moves on to discussing how we can make evangelism an integral part of the church. I really appreciated the thoughts he had on how to “make Sunday count” by working on 1) excellence, 2) the target audience, and 3) visitors.

Click here for the free download page at Newfrontiers

Newfrontiers Leadership Conference 2006 - Training Track 3-1

This talk is actually a history of the Pentecostal/charismatic movement in the last century, focussing mainly on the events of Azusa Street in 1906. It is well researched, interesting and informative. Lex particularly emphasizes the fruits of the original outpouring. I found the accounts of events of the time quite fascinating.

Click here for the free download page at Newfrontiers