Three Is Enough

I was traveling the 19^th – 26^th, slammed from early morning to late at night, so I got a little behind posting news.

My trip started in Portland, Oregon with a reunion of sorts: I spoke at the Vineyard Regional Pastors Conference. It was great to see old friends and get to discuss with them the things I care most about: evangelism, mission and spiritual formation in contemporary culture. It is heartening to see a group like Vineyard churches wrestle with these real issues. When a group has recently been on top—Vineyard churches got more press in the 80s and 90s than just about any other group and Vineyard Music was on a roll—it can be hard to change what was a successful recipe. I give these guys big props for not resting on their reputation and going for it again.

I caught an early morning flight from Portland to Chicago to do some Alpha business. I am in an interim period wherein I work for myself. In addition to writing, speaking and adjunct teaching (George Fox Grad School, Wheaton Grad School and Fuller this year), I do some consulting. Alpha is my biggest client. I spend 25% of my time on Alpha-related work. In Chicago we had our semi-annual board meeting, a conference with 1,200 people on the Wheaton Campus, and a strategy meeting with the key Alpha pastors from around America. I still say that if a church is looking for a simple to apply and easy to customize approach to evangelism, I do not know of anything better than The Alpha Course.

While away I got three bits of great news regarding my book—Christianity Beyond Belief: Following Jesus for the Sake of Others:

• It is slated to be out in January 2009
• Eugene Peterson has given me the high honor of agreeing to write a forward
• IVP is going to do an audio book of CBB which should be out roughly the same time as the paper version.

I am looking forward to the book hitting Amazon and book stores. These months between now and January feel like a long dress rehearsal for Three is Enough. I am speaking virtually every weekend this fall, and about half this summer. My trip around the world in early December is coming together, but still needs some work. I have some mid-week openings the rest of this year if your group would like to hear about the concepts in my book which give rise to TiE.

Peace~