This is a real headline from an Associated Press article: Woman slams dead raccoon against Vt. city building.
According to the article, crime is getting crazy in Burlington Continue reading
Author: kevinpounds
One year in Burlington!!!
On Saturday, November 13, 2010, Christin, Jude, and I moved into our “new” home at 406 North Ave. We were excited about what God had in store for us but were under no illusions concerning whether the next year would have its share of challenges. As expected, God has continued and continues to prove His faithfulness. God gave us some big ideas, we prayed some bold prayers, and God has answered in God-sized ways. Continue reading
Networking in VT- Missional Communities
This post will probably only apply if you live in VT and are…
a. Planting a church centered around the missional community model (a.k.a. gospel communities or home fellowships).
b. Pastoring a church that already uses the missional community model.
c. Pastoring a church where you’re considering transitioning to the missional community model.
d. Are still interested although none of the above apply. Continue reading
Barriers to Missional Living
This past Saturday I heard a message from Aaron Coe, vice president of mobilization for the North American Mission Board, that I found very relevant to our work as church-planters and those seeking to live out the message of Jesus. Before you read this, it’s important for you to know that Aaron is speaking from experience as a former church-planter and pastor of the Gallery Church in NY City. Continue reading
New team members: Michael, Shannon, & Aden Ly
We’re so excited to announce that Michael, Shannon, and Aden Ly will be transplanting their lives from Seattle to join our team here in Burlington in just a few weeks. Continue reading
Can “cultivating community” become idolatry?
“Cultivating community” has become a buzzword (er phrase) within my generation of Jesus followers. We want authentic, transparent, deep, and meaningful relationships with other people. We want to share our lives with each other. We want to share our time, energy, resources, and abilities. We want to create a relational space that serves as a safe haven to be loved, accepted, known, and to know others. All of this sounds great! But if we’re not careful, cultivating community can quickly become an idol that draws us away from Jesus and His mission. Continue reading
Don’t reinvent the wheel
I find it interesting that in Christian ministry circles we tend to reinvent what other people are already doing. Sometimes we’ll create a Christianized version of what secular organizations are already doing (and often doing well) or almost identically replicate what other ministries are already doing simply because it doesn’t have our ministry’s name attached to it. Continue reading
Proximity Matters
When a topic or question comes up in three separate conversations in one week, I come to the conclusion that I need to be able to clearly articulate what I think about the issue. The big question that seems to be a recent conversational theme goes something like this: How important is it to live in the same community as the people you seek to serve, minister, lead, and generally display Jesus to? Continue reading
One eyed monstrosity
Yesterday in our Home Fellowship meeting we were discussing questions such as, What is the church? What is the church’s purpose? Why does the church exist? If you were to start a church from scratch in 2011 Burlington, VT, and sincerely use the scriptures as your guide, what would it look like? As we were reading through different scriptures from the Message (a modern paraphrase of the Bible), this section from 1 Corinthians 12 in particular stood out Continue reading
momentum
mo-men-tum noun: strength or force gained by motion or by a series of events
Summer is over. Fall has begun. Life and ministry seem to be moving at 100 mph. By every observable metric we see spiritual momentum in our Home Fellowship/church-planting work, the Serve Burlington nonprofit, and through the ministry endeavors of others here in Burlington. Continue reading
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