September 2009
62 posts
NBA, Iran, Twitter, Church-rater and the... →
By Jeff Smith After hearing many different takes on churchrater this past week, I think this social media story in the NBA shows the same type of information democratization that the whole…
Sep 29th
2 notes
Gospel Exclusivity – Weigh In →
by Jeff Smith Scot McKnight (one of my favorite theologians) is asking people to weigh in here on “gospel exclusivity”. Both an important topic and another example of what Tickle describes as …
Sep 29th
3 notes
Orientation, Position, Details – Post #1 →
by Jeff Smith
Sep 29th
2 notes
The future is just like the past (except shinier) →
by Jeff Smith This Seth Godin post is a bit too true for comfort. How many of the planning meetings you sit in are based on this false future=shinier past premise?
Sep 29th
3 notes
China and the Web (& Church-rater and its... →
by Jeff Smith Tom Barnett makes this comment: You can always chose control of content over freer forms of connectivity, but it always comes with a cost. As China’s society–and thus its…
Sep 29th
3 notes
Evangelism as a country – a question →
by Jeff Smith We’ve been batting this question around the past few days at Off the Map: If evangelism concepts were nations, where would their borders be – and what roads would connect…
Sep 29th
3 notes
Orientation & Position #2 →
by Jeff Smith
Sep 29th
2 notes
G-8 to G-20? Another example of “Networked... →
By Jeff Smith Whatever you may believe about the evils or good of globalization, this story about the G-8 expanding to the G-20 is, to me, just another example of what Phyllis Tickle calls …
Sep 28th
3 notes
Orientation, Position, Details – Post #1 →
by Jeff Smith
Sep 28th
3 notes
NBA, Iran, Twitter, Church-rater and the... →
By Jeff Smith After hearing many different takes on churchrater this past week, I think this social media story in the NBA shows the same type of information democratization that the whole…
Sep 28th
4 notes
The future is just like the past (except shinier) →
by Jeff Smith This Seth Godin post is a bit too true for comfort. How many of the planning meetings you sit in are based on this false future=shinier past premise?
Sep 28th
Gospel Exclusivity – Weigh In →
by Jeff Smith Scot McKnight (one of my favorite theologians) is asking people to weigh in here on “gospel exclusivity”. Both an important topic and another example of what Tickle describes as …
Sep 28th
G-8 to G-20? Another example of “Networked... →
By Jeff Smith Whatever you may believe about the evils or good of globalization, this story about the G-8 expanding to the G-20 is, to me, just another example of what Phyllis Tickle calls …
Sep 27th
3 notes
Patient Evangelism (A Possible Third Way) →
by Jeff Smith A friend, Al Doyle, recommended Novogratz’s book The Blue Sweater, to me several months ago. Needless to say it was as transformative as Al said it would be. As I watched this …
Sep 26th
3 notes
Women Only Trains →
By Jeff Smith Tom Barnett always says, I can tell a lot about a society by how it treats its women. Here’s a very interesting NY Times story about how women in India advocated so strongly…
Sep 26th
3 notes
Mirrors and Maps Conference Podcast →
Nick Fielder was kind enough to do a podcast with Jim about our upcoming Mirrors and Maps conference. Jim talks about the ideas behind Mirrors and Maps and what will happen there. And…
Sep 26th
Women Only Trains →
By Jeff Smith Tom Barnett always says, I can tell a lot about a society by how it treats its women. Here’s a very interesting NY Times story about how women in India advocated so strongly…
Sep 26th
Yelp (for developing countries) and for churches →
By Jeff Smith The Economist has this article in their Sept 24th edition and I think it has huge implications to the church-rater discussion we’re having here at OTM. First, the points the…
Sep 26th
3 notes
Patient Evangelism (A Possible Third Way) →
by Jeff Smith A friend, Al Doyle, recommended Novogratz’s book The Blue Sweater, to me several months ago. Needless to say it was as transformative as Al said it would be. As I watched this …
Sep 26th
2 notes
Mirrors and Maps Conference Podcast →
Nick Fielder was kind enough to do a podcast with Jim about our upcoming Mirrors and Maps conference. Jim talks about the ideas behind Mirrors and Maps and what will happen there. And…
Sep 25th
2 notes
Yelp (for developing countries) and for churches →
By Jeff Smith The Economist has this article in their Sept 24th edition and I think it has huge implications to the church-rater discussion we’re having here at OTM. First, the points the…
Sep 25th
The Gathering Center →
By Jeff Smith
Sep 25th
The Gathering Center →
By Jeff Smith
Sep 24th
Half (51%) of “Nones” still believe in God →
A friend sent this USA Today article to me this morning and I think it’s interesting. In a survey done by Trinity College, it turns out that over half of the Nones (Americans who don’t identify…
Sep 23rd
ChurchRater gets press →
Christianity Today has a post up about newly relaunched ChurchRater Church Rater or Church Hater? Does a new church rating website help or hurt those seeking a congregation? …
Sep 23rd
Why I Rate Churches →
I got these emails from leaders who like Off The Map but don’t like Church Rater. Sorry Jim, But Church Rater misses the point. The church has already spent a lot of time trying to impress…
Sep 23rd
Erosion →
By Jeff Smith Sola scriptura (only scriptura) has eroded. If we take American history as a picture, we can see this erosion quite profoundly. The first current flood was slavery. While the…
Sep 23rd
Sola Scriptura and the Hits It’s Taking →
By Jeff Smith
Sep 23rd
Half (51%) of “Nones” still believe in God →
A friend sent this USA Today article to me this morning and I think it’s interesting. In a survey done by Trinity College, it turns out that over half of the Nones (Americans who don’t identify…
Sep 23rd
Why I Rate Churches →
I got these emails from leaders who like Off The Map but don’t like Church Rater. Sorry Jim, But Church Rater misses the point. The church has already spent a lot of time trying to impress…
Sep 23rd
ChurchRater gets press →
Christianity Today has a post up about newly relaunched ChurchRater Church Rater or Church Hater? Does a new church rating website help or hurt those seeking a congregation? …
Sep 23rd
Erosion →
By Jeff Smith Sola scriptura (only scriptura) has eroded. If we take American history as a picture, we can see this erosion quite profoundly. The first current flood was slavery. While the…
Sep 23rd
Sola Scriptura and the Hits It’s Taking →
By Jeff Smith
Sep 22nd
Multiple Popes and other Authority Problems by... →
Where now is the authority video-blog
Sep 21st
Planning Advantages by Listening →
You must learn through planning. You must question the situation… Some commanders perform this analysis. If you use these commanders, you will win. Keep them. Some commanders ignore this…
Sep 20th
Planning Advantages by Listening →
You must learn through planning. You must question the situation… Some commanders perform this analysis. If you use these commanders, you will win. Keep them. Some commanders ignore this…
Sep 19th
The Art of War (or Meetings) →
It starts with your philosophy. Command your people in a way that gives them a higher shared purpose. You can lead them to death. You can lead them to life. They must never fear danger or…
Sep 18th
Shipping Water →
…until that fateful time, about once every five hundred years, when the outer casing of the story and the inner sleeve of the shared illusion take a blow simultaneously.  When that happens, a hole…
Sep 18th
The Art of War (or Meetings) →
It starts with your philosophy. Command your people in a way that gives them a higher shared purpose. You can lead them to death. You can lead them to life. They must never fear danger or…
Sep 18th
Shipping Water →
…until that fateful time, about once every five hundred years, when the outer casing of the story and the inner sleeve of the shared illusion take a blow simultaneously.  When that happens, a hole…
Sep 17th
Rummages Sales – Every 500 Years →
Sometimes the only way to understand what is currently happening to us as 21st century Christians in North America is to understand that about every 500 years the Church feels compelled to hold a…
Sep 17th
Rummages Sales – Every 500 Years →
Sometimes the only way to understand what is currently happening to us as 21st century Christians in North America is to understand that about every 500 years the Church feels compelled to hold a…
Sep 16th
Tickle and the Great Emergence →
One of my favorite miniseries is John Adams – done by HBO in the past few years.  The reason that miniseries is compelling is because I get to view history as a participant, in that case, as John…
Sep 14th
Idea Parties →
I’ve been a teacher – that is on this side of the desk – for 17 years. I’ve been a student for almost 35 years.  Having sat in too many classes, churches and business workshops, I’ve come to several…
Sep 14th
Phyllis Tickle & Michael Frost/Off The Map /Nov... →
Off The Map brings leading thinkers and practitioners to expand your spiritual horizons. Phyllis Tickle has recently lit up the Christian scene with her innovative thinking in a book titled…
Sep 14th
Greed’s conclusion →
All of which is to say that the symptoms and causes of the Reformation differ from the symptoms and causes of our recent disconnect more in wrappings than in content, the motto of the former – the…
Sep 14th
Tickle and the Great Emergence →
One of my favorite miniseries is John Adams – done by HBO in the past few years.  The reason that miniseries is compelling is because I get to view history as a participant, in that case, as John…
Sep 14th
Idea Parties →
I’ve been a teacher – that is on this side of the desk – for 17 years. I’ve been a student for almost 35 years.  Having sat in too many classes, churches and business workshops, I’ve come to several…
Sep 14th
Phyllis Tickle & Michael Frost/Off The Map /Nov... →
Off The Map brings leading thinkers and practitioners to expand your spiritual horizons. Phyllis Tickle has recently lit up the Christian scene with her innovative thinking in a book titled…
Sep 14th
Greed’s conclusion →
All of which is to say that the symptoms and causes of the Reformation differ from the symptoms and causes of our recent disconnect more in wrappings than in content, the motto of the former – the…
Sep 13th