February 2012
11 posts
Gospel leadership
“Gospel leadership is persuading people that church is not about them.” @aheardy #a29we
Feb 22nd
3 tags
Why I finally gave up facebook
Last year (2011), after reading consumer detox I made the decision to delete my facebook account to help me clear some head space and try and live a simpler lifestyle and one that is more focused on the things that are important to me. However, some good friends suggested ways that I could use facebook in a different way and so for the past few months I’ve been trying out different methods....
Feb 22nd
6 tags
WatchWatch
The Hub promo video (Peterborough & Stamford). A great video produced by Alex Coe to advertise our new monthly youth gatherings! 
Feb 21st
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17100001 →
Glad I escaped Serbia before the big freeze
Feb 20th
7 tags
Remembering the past, but remember that it’s the...
Photo by Sue Langford As Christians there are two equally dangerous approaches when considering the past: The first danger is we can look back at the hurts, pains, set-backs and disappointments and they can squeeze all of the life, faith and hope for the future out of us. In this world, the past becomes a prison office trapping us in a grey and faith-less world inoculated from the power and...
Feb 16th
2 tags
Feb 9th
5 tags
The HUB Bible School
Last Week Pete Hawkins, Vlada Stojanovic and I were at the HUB Bible School in Serbia. We had a lot of fun teaching and talking with the Students. In the mornings we were with the 2nd Year students teaching on Church Planting. I really enjoyed talking about missional churches and the meta-narrative of the Bible. In the afternoon we were with the 1st Years teaching through 2 Samuel. I focused my...
Feb 7th
3 tags
KERUFF: "Ordain everyone" →
Great quote Sam. Or maybe we should  just get on with the ‘work’ of living as communities on mission. This way every person has a part to play in being signposts of a saving King? samradford: Rob Bell, giving his response to this question: Reformation theologians took “vocation,” a word previously only applied to the clergy, and applied it to all believers. They promoted the idea...
Feb 3rd
2 notes
Serbia Update: 02/02/2012
Today I’m teaching the following subjects at the HUB Bible School in Serbia: Year 2: Church Planting - Culture, Community and Mission (part 3) Year 2: Church Planting - Culture, Community and Mission (part 4) Year 1: 2 Samuel - An extended look at 2 Samuel 7 (part 2) Year 1: 2 Samuel - An extended look at 2 Samuel 7 (part 3)
Feb 2nd
5 tags
“Fame, pleasure, riches are but husks and ashes in contrast with the boundless...”
– I. Cambell Whote (1909)
Feb 2nd
2 notes
Serbia Update: 01/02/2012
Today I’m teaching the following sessions at the HUB Bible School in Serbia: Year 2: Church Planting - Culture, Community and Mission (part 1) Year 2: Church Planting - Culture, Community and Mission (part 2) Year 1: 2 Samuel - An extended look at 2 Samuel 7 (part 1)
Feb 1st
January 2012
39 posts
The Prophetic Perfect
Some rights reserved by Joybot As I’m currently in Serbia teaching on Old Testament Christology, I thought I would share with you a fantastic quote on the amazing way in which many of the OT prophecies about Jesus are rendered in the perfect tense: A.B  Davidson: “this usage is very common in the elevated language of the Prophets, who faith and imagination so vividly projects before them...
Jan 31st
Serbia Update: 31/01/2012
Today I’m teaching the following session at the Hub Bible School in Serbia: Year 2: Church Planting - Metanarrative of the Bible and church planting  Year 1: 2 Samuel - Christ in 2 Samuel 7 (part 1) Year 1: 2 Samuel - Christ in 2 Samuel 7 (part 2)
Jan 31st
2 tags
Serbia Update: 30/01/2012
Today Vlada, Pete and I kick off our week of teaching at the HUB Bible School . Today I’m teaching the following sessions: Year 2: Church Planting - the metanarrative of the Bible  Year 1: 2 Samuel - Christology in the OT (part 1) Year 1: 2 Samuel - Christology in the OT (part 2)
Jan 30th
KERUFF: Embracing people of other cultures →
This is a great little quote. Sam thank’s for posting this! samradford: Good advice from my friend, Joseph Thompson: The true essence of transforming a people is by embracing their culture not deriding it. If you really want to understand why people are passionate about the things they are, you must immerse yourself in the sights, sounds, and smells that so enrich…
Jan 26th
2 notes
Jan 26th
1,912 notes
Economic crisis mustn't eclipse battle against... →
samradford: Bill Gates, speaking at the London School of Economics: There are many things going on in terms of the eurozone crisis and budget cutbacks that would make it easy to turn inward and reduce financing. The answer is to remind people not only about the needs of the very poorest but also that we are making incredible progress in … the daily battle that is poverty. Whilst I was never...
Jan 26th
2 notes
3 tags
A cross-centred, God-glorifying community
Here is an article I wrote for this weeks Life News: Romans 15:7 is a remarkable verse. It says ‘Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.’ (NASB) Here we have the recipe for healthy and vibrant church community! The first thing we can learn from this amazing verse is that Christ’s acceptance of us was marked by great pain and cost to...
Jan 25th
2 tags
A Long Obedience in the Same Direction:...
Some rights reserved by f-l-e-x Yesterday at our wider team meeting [yep I know that’s not the most flattering title!], I recommended Eugene H. Peterson’s book ‘A long obedience in the same direction. This is wonderful book reflecting upon the Psalms of Assent. Here is what the back of the book has to say: As a society, we are no less obsessed with the immediate than when...
Jan 23rd
“If I discover within myself a desire which no experience in this world can...”
– C.S. Lewis
Jan 22nd
2 tags
“If worship is right because God is worthy of it, it is also the best of all...”
– John R. W. Stott
Jan 22nd
The Vibe (Download a free copy of our new... →
Jan 21st
3 tags
“The Christian life is not just our own private affair. If we have been born...”
– John R. W. Stott
Jan 21st
3 notes
5 tags
“The Christian community is a community of the cross, for it has been brought...”
– John R. W. Stott
Jan 20th
5 tags
“‘No sooner are people together than they begin to observe, judge, and classify...”
– Bonhoeffer, Life Together
Jan 19th
39 notes
5 tags
“The modern world detests authority but worships relevance. Our Christian...”
– John R. W. Stott
Jan 19th
4 tags
“‘Whoever cannot be alone should beware of community … But the reverse is also...”
– Bonhoeffer, Life Together, pg. 82
Jan 18th
2 tags
“His authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the nations. His authority...”
– John R. W. Stott
Jan 18th
72 notes
3 tags
“Over 50% of the worlds population is under the age of 25! We must have an...”
– Danny Akin
Jan 17th
7 tags
“‘A Christian community either lives by the intercessory prayers of its members...”
– Bonhoeffer, Life Together, pg. 90.
Jan 17th
7 notes
4 tags
“We should not ask, “What is wrong with the world?” for that...”
– John R. W. Stott
Jan 17th
WatchWatch
a great little video. I love the baptisms! 
Jan 17th
“Gathering diverse peoples into one Christ-exalting, unified people glorifies the...”
– John Piper
Jan 16th
4 tags
“Christian Community: “Just as Christians should not be constantly feeling the...”
– Bonhoeffer (Life Together)
Jan 16th
17 notes
3 tags
Jan 13th
“I find it strange that many so called Christian leaders spend their time...”
– Jamie Robinson (via jamie73)
Jan 12th
1 note
6 tags
“In the end, the future of the Church is much like the past and present...”
Jan 12th
90 notes
5 tags
Orthoptera-ism: the grasshopper mentality
the following is some text I wrote for our weekly email update: For those of you who can remember all those Latin lessons you endured (well, I guess some may have enjoyed them!), you’ll know that Orthoptera is the Latin name for the class of insects that includes the grasshopper.Orthoptera-ism is my made up word for the practice of seeing oneself as a grasshopper in comparison to the obstacles or...
Jan 12th
46 notes
3 tags
“The Christian life is going to God. In going to God Christians travel the same...”
– Eugene H. Peterson A Long Obedience in the same direction pg. 45
Jan 11th
2 notes
“God does not need your good works; your neighbor does.” Martin Luther”
– (via jamie73)
Jan 11th
1 note
4 tags
“Few things are more infectious than a godly lifestyle. The people you rub...”
Jan 11th
4 tags
Jan 10th
3 notes
6 tags
“We do not segment our lives, giving some time to God, some to our business or...”
Jan 10th
7 tags
Alister McGrath flipping a very familiar argument
Today I read a very interesting quote by Alister McGrath that in many ways flips a very familiar argument against faith and religion. “The 20th century gave rise to one of the greatest and most distressing paradoxes of human history: that the greatest intolerance and violence of that century were practised by those who believed that religion caused intolerance and violence.”
Jan 9th
5 tags
“John Ortberg on community: “The connection that takes place between a mother...”
Jan 9th
3 tags
“Bonhoeffer: He said Christianity is often exiled to Sunday mornings to a place...”
Jan 8th
11 notes
Solitude and Leadership →
samradford: Brilliant lecture on leadership and the importance of solitude. Multitasking, in short, is not only not thinking, it impairs your ability to think. Thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to develop an idea about it. Not learning other people’s ideas, or memorizing a body of information, however much those may sometimes be useful. Developing your own ideas. In short,...
Jan 7th
3 notes
2 tags
“Lessons learned in pain are often some of the greatest lessons learned &...”
– @TerryVirgo
Jan 7th
How To Be More Interesting (In 10 Simple Steps) →
samradford: If you’re looking for some simple steps to make sure 2012 is better than 2011, this article would be a good a starting place.
Jan 6th
1 note
“If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead...”
Jan 4th