The ministry conference calendar here at Church Relevance has been updated to include the many church conferences coming this fall as well as a few upcoming ministry conferences in 2012.

To view it, visit: ChurchRelevance.com/resources/church-conference-recommendations

There are well over 20 ministry conferences to catch before the end of the year. If I missed a church conference, please list it in the comments section.

Which ones will you be attending?

Praxis is a new accelerator program for starting a nonprofit, L3C, or for-profit focused on social mission. The Praxis Accelerator Program focuses on four distinct areas:

1. Mentorship & Customized Expertise
2. Action-Oriented Education & Planning
3. Peer Networking
4. Access to Capital Sources

Only 12 early-stage non-profit and mission-driven for-profit organizations will be accepted. Those twelve will receive:

• 20+ mentors (including Jamie Tworkowski, Gabe Lyons, Charles Lee, & Brad Lomenick)
• 3 gatherings to hone fundamentals, organizational development, & growth preparation
• potential funding through the Praxis Funder Network, a private body of philanthropists, social investors, and foundations
• an opportunity to present their idea at Q Conference 2012 and win $50,000, $30,000, or $20,000 for their cause

The application deadline is July 15, 2011. It is free to apply, but the 12 organizations chosen do have an accelerator program fee of $6,000 for nonprofits and developing world for-profits and $10,000 for for-profit organizations.

Visit PraxisLabs.org to apply.

Sevenly raises money for charities by selling a new t-shirt every 7 days designed to represent the mission of that week’s charity.

Every t-shirt raises $7 for the cause. And this clever form of fundraising launches today at Sevenly.org with the first t-shirt representing International Justice Mission. One tee provides one day of recovery for rescued girls.

Half of the t-shirt’s sales price goes towards producing the shirt. $7 goes to the cause. And the remaining goes towards running Sevenly operations.

I love the design. I love the concept. Remember if you’re really into fashion - that’s 52 designer t-shirts, 52 causes per year.

Bardin & Marsee Publishing creates one of the neatest Bibles I have seen - a 100% Waterproof Bible with Durabooks technology that is stain resistant yet also lets you dry highlight and take notes. It also floats! It is the perfect Bible for an offroading missionary or a casual poolside reader.

The New Living Translation is a 1996 revision of The Living Bible that translates the Hebrew and Greek texts by thought-for-thought rather than the more literal word-for-word approach.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

James 1:27
Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

The type is small but adequate, particularly considering its crisp printing and good choice of typefaces. The layout and leading is cramped, but you really can not be picky when it comes to 100% waterproof Bibles. I love the very soft yet slippery film feel of the pages. And I am impressed that they are waterproof yet can still be highlighted and written on.

According to the Durabooks website:

The waterproof binding looks traditional, it is actually much sturdier than any perfect-bound or regular thread-sewn book, and has been devised and tested to hold up to the same extreme conditions as the paper. The book block is sewn with a special thread, then notched and adhered to the cover with a unique glue. The glue is a custom-formulated compound invented for this purpose. It, too, is waterproof. While the binding looks just like a normal notch-bound book, the resulting product has superior performance and durability.

The Waterproof Bible comes in blue, pink, and camouflage covers and in NIV, KJV, ESV, NLT, and NASB translations.

Translation: New Living Translation (NLT)
Publisher: Bardin & Marsee Publishing (2010)
ISBN: 9781609690069
Language: English
Cost: $39.95

Cover: stain resistant synthetics made of plastic resins and inorganic fillers (blue)
Binding: specialty thread sewn, notched, and glued with a custom-formulated compound to ensure durability and waterproofing
Pages: 774 pages of stain resistant synthetics made of plastic resins and inorganic fillers
Type: black text
Dimensions: 8.7″ x 5.9″ x 1.5″
Special Features: waterproof

This post features a complimentary review copy and Amazon affiliate links.

This week on Wednesday, May 25th at noon EDT, Francis Chan, author of Crazy Love and Forgotten God, is releasing BASIC. FELLOWSHIP, the 4th film in his BASIC curriculum series. Simply visit premiere.BASICseries.com.

Beginning on Sunday, May 22, each of the existing three BASIC curriculum films will be streamed for 24 hours at the same place - premiere.BASICseries.com.

Like most of Francis Chan’s messages, each BASIC film investigates the Bible in a very simple and straightforward way that tries to through out the cultural biases that so often cause us to distort what the Bible really says.

1. Film #1 - BASIC. FEAR GOD
   What does the Bible mean when it tells us to fear God? Is it a kind of respect or reverence as many in the church seem to see it today, or is it really more of a paralyzing fear that can drive you to your knees in trembling? A clear understanding of what the Bible teaches can lead to a true fear of God, which can ultimately lead to the life we were intended to live.
2. Film #2 - BASIC. FOLLOW JESUS
   What does Jesus mean when He tells us to follow Him? Are we supposed to just agree with what He says, or does He really mean we’re supposed to do the things He did and live the life He lived? Once we understand how to follow Jesus, we see the hard life that might be in store for us, and then the real question becomes not how, but why we would want to follow Him in the first place.
3. Film #3 - BASIC. HOLY SPIRIT
   God gives each of us the gift of the Holy Spirit, our source of supernatural power. But today the church acts neither “super” nor “natural.” How do we join the move of what the Spirit is doing? Maybe once we understand who the Holy Spirit is, the church can stop being so ordinary, and can start being the agents of change in the world that God designed us to be.
4. Film #4 - BASIC. FELLOWSHIP
   God gives each of us the gift of the Holy Spirit, our source of supernatural power. But today the church acts neither “super” nor “natural.” How do we join the move of what the Spirit is doing? Maybe once we understand who the Holy Spirit is, the church can stop being so ordinary, and can start being the agents of change in the world that God designed us to be.

David C. Cook Publishers makes each film available for purchase individually, or you can get the first three films with study guides in a special BASIC series curriculum small group package.

Don’t forget to catch the premiere of BASIC. FELLOWSHIP this Wednesday, May 25th at noon EDT.

Special thanks to David C. Cook Publishers for supporting Church Relevance by sponsoring this post and for a complimentary review copy of the BASIC series small group curriculum. This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Leadership accountability is becoming a more important issue with every pastor, politician, and leader in the limelight who has a moral failure. Personal accountability has always been important, but now people are beginning to realize it.

Good intentions aren’t enough. You need prayer, worship, and a steady diet of Scripture to stay focused. And for good measure, I also recommend using accountability questions and Internet accountability software.

15 Accountability Questions

Having an accountability partner is only successful if you consistently meet, are brutally honest, and ask the right questions. Ed Stetzer has compiled a list of 48 accountability questions used by leaders such as John Wesley, Chuck Swindoll, Neil Cole, and Church Multiplication Associates. For my own use, I’ve adapted these questions into my top 15 personal accountability questions.

Spiritual

• #1 - Did the Bible live in you this week?
• #2 - Do you give it time to speak to you everyday?
• #3 - Are you enjoying prayer?
• #4 - Do you trust God?
• #5 - When did you last speak to someone about your faith?

Relationships

• #6 - Have you been honoring, understanding, and generous to your family and important relationships?
• #7 - Have you damaged another person by your words, either behind their back or face-to-face?

Lust of the Eyes (Generosity)

• #8 - Have you been materialistic or too focused on having something?
• #9 - Have you been generous?

Pride of Life (Humility)

• #10 - Have you been proud or too focused on being something?
• #11 - Are you giving God the glory?

Lust of the Flesh (Integrity)

• #12 - Is God honored in the way you eat and drink?
• #13 - Are you improving your health through nutrition and exercise?
• #14 - Have you been exposed to sexually alluring material or allowed your mind to entertain inappropriate thoughts about someone who is not your spouse this week?
• #15 - Have you been with a woman anywhere this past week that might be seen as compromising?

These questions don’t cover everything, but they are manageable and help keep a broad scope of lifestyle goals in the forefront of your mind throughout the week.

Internet Accountability Software

According to a March 2002 Pastors.com survey, 54% of pastors had viewed Internet pornography within the previous year, and 30% of those pastors had visited within the previous 30 days. Keep in mind that those statistics do not include any inappropriate content often found on news sites, online ads, and countless other non-ponographic sites.

Good Internet accountability software helps keep leaders above reproach. I recommend and use Covenant Eyes because of its highly thorough monitoring and customization. I tested a free Internet accountability program but was disappointed by its inability to report questionable non-pornographic content.

Covenant Eyes allows users to add accountability partners who receive regular reports detailing and labeling Internet usage in order of maturity - highly mature (porn), mature (smut), mature teen, and teen. It also charts the average Internet usage for each hour of the day.

The content labels and customized reports are convenient, but the real value is in its detailed tracking. Covenant Eyes analyzes the URLs of all photos, stories, ads, and more on each Web page that is viewed. If there is any potentially questionable content on a page, Covenant Eyes usually catches it.

Good Internet accountability software is not just about porn. It tracks sexual content, violence, crude humor, and vulgarity. That scope makes it a great tool for quick and easy discussions between accountability partners about what types of media they let themselves consume on a regular basis.

Special thanks to Covenant Eyes for a complimentary review subscription of their Internet accountability software.

From 1993 to 2002, Eugene Peterson wrote a contemporary paraphrased translation of the Bible called The Message, which has become quite popular for its ability to communicate scripture in a fresh and understandable way. When I see a copy of The Message translation, it is usually an affordable paperback Bible featuring only the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs.

NavPress does, however, offer a full version of Eugene Peterson’s The Message Bible bound in genuine leather. It is a significant improvement from the paperback and imitation leather versions yet still keeps the price a bargain compared to other translations.

When Eugene Peterson wrote The Message Bible, he had a specific goal in mind:

I hoped to bring the New Testament to life for two different types of people: those who hadn’t read the Bible because it seemed too distant and irrelevant and those who had read the Bible so much that it had become “old hat.”

I have fallen into the latter category and can attest that reading The Message has given me new perspectives on many passages of scripture. It certainly is one of the more unique translations.

John 3:16
This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.

James 1:27
Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

The type size is small but not a challenge for young eyes. The text is black. What really makes the Bible edition pleasant to read is its type is laid out in paragraphs or poetic stanzas rather than the usual choppy Bible verse pattern.

The genuine leather cover is soft and easily rolled. The craftmanship adds quality in all the right areas while keeping the price point low.

Perhaps the most impressive feature of The Message Bible is the lifetime reader guarantee. If at any time the binding fails because of manufacturing defects, or if you just wear it out from use, you may return it for a free replacement.

Translation: The Message
Publisher: NavPress (2007)
ISBN: 9781600060373
Language: English
Cost: $64.99

Cover: genuine leather (black)
Binding: lifetime guarantee deluxe bindings with satin ribbon marker
Pages: 1,736 pages with silver gilded edges
Type: black text
Dimensions: 5.5″ x 8.33″ x 1.4“

This post features a complimentary review copy and Amazon affiliate links.

This year I restructured my life and business endeavors, so that I can start Open Church, an independent nonprofit focused on equipping global Church leaders with free ministry resources to download and ideas from all cultures.

Bits of Open Church’s vision have been stirring in my heart for years, connecting, and building upon each other. The Open Church website is anticipated to launch in early 3rd quarter 2011. I want to see more churches collaborate.

Free Ministry Resources

If the churches of one city pooled together their different resources - financial and human, they would have more literal and figurative money than they know what to do with.
- Dallas Willard

I find great truth in Willard’s words, but I dream about what it would be like to have thousands of churches globally aggressively sharing their resources with each other. Think of the time saved from not trying to reinvent the wheel. Think of the money saved. With that volume of collaboration, you can still have plenty of variations and choices among similar resources. Rather than 100 churches all doing the same thing, let 5-10 churches create that resource and give it away. Let the remaining 90-95 churches used those saved resources to impact the Kingdom of God in a new way.

By providing the technology platform and manpower to make sharing resources easy, Open Church turns the desire to share into a reality for those interested in equipping the global Church. Open Church’s central hub format simplifies user access, synergizes reach, and reduces costs for contributors.

Global Ministry Ideas

Generally speaking, the majority of ministry thought leadership influencing the global Church comes from white, upper middle class, American men. While their thoughts are good, they are naturally limited by culture and best suited for reaching people like themselves.

Open Church’s idea platform features these mainstream perspectives but also intentionally seeks out expert voices from underplatformed niches, such as G12 Africa, Europe, Chinese house church, Latino Americans, Black Americans, Indian Americans, college ministry, etc.

The goal is to present a holistic scope of ministry perspectives not only to cater to each niche but also help readers become more well-rounded and balanced. By mashing up ministry ideas from all geographies and cultures, it becomes much easier to recognize what are timeless Biblical principles and what are cultural best practices.

How You Can Help

At the moment, Open Church is 100% volunteers. The cost savings and extra manpower allows Open Church to do more, offer more, and reach more. If you feel passionate about Open Church’s vision, you can help the following ways:

1. Pray for Open Church — its mission and leadership.
2. Prayerfully consider contributing your time or resources.
   Open Church is currently lining up volunteer editors, writers, translators, resource managers, and resource contributors (particularly curriculum and administrative tools not just graphics). For more information about serving in these roles, please complete the volunteer signup form.

If you are interested, I’d love to explore ways for you to be involved.

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