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Wow! It is nice/weird/wonderful to be back in the blog world after a layoff of about three years!
Here’s a presentation that I made at Conversational Evangelism Conference, which introduces Three is Enough.
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In one way TiE (Three is Enough) is the culmination of a lifetime of thinking about the intersection of The Gospel, culture, church, kingdom, spiritual formation and evangelism. In another, more humble way, it comes from the closing chapter of my upcoming book from IVP—Christianity Beyond Belief: Following Jesus for the Sake of Others. In CBB, I try to lay out some of the practical outcomes which surround one’s understanding—or misunderstanding—of the Gospel. Much of the conceptual work for the first section of the book comes from my D.Min. dissertation which was titled: Re-hearing the Gospel: Toward Improved Practices for Evangelism and Spiritual Formation. (You don’t want to read this: wait a few months and get the book—the editors at IVP will insure that it is actually readable!) The dissertation title sounds deep, but really it is just an academic way of saying “Todd has been curious about these matters for a long time, so he decided to jump in to really try to learn about them.”
In the second section of the book, I set forth what I hope is a simple way to describe what it means to be a Christian. I do so around four phrases:
- Being the cooperative friends of Jesus
- Living consistent lives of creative goodness
- Through the power of the Holy Spirit
- For the sake of others
As I got to the end of this vision casting section of the book I realized—well actually I realized with help of my agent and my editor at IVP—that people were going to read this and say: “Sounds interesting Todd—probably even true—but so what? What do we do about it?” Later, sitting in my upstairs home office, pondering the comments from my two friends, a word from a way-old conversation popped into my mind: triads. From that simple bit of inspiration I began to work on TiE Groups. There are many who have profitably gone before me on this. In an appendix in my book I lay out the work of Greg Ogden, Bob Logan, Neil Cole and Crusillo, etc.
From Wesley, and before, to Cole and beyond, the church has made good use of “smaller small groups.” In fact, I didn’t know how really true this was until a few weeks ago I had lunch with an old friend—Randy Knutson—who introduced me to a whole body of literature that has grown up while I had my eye on evangelism and The Alpha Course.
So TiE is becoming a reality. I am forming a group at the coffee shop above which I rent an office. I have a few pilots going in California—including Disney. They are spreading around the country as people hear about them and want to give it a try.
I am hoping you will join us in this. It is easy to start, good for your soul and great to the purposes of God in others. If you click through the links on the right you can find your way through an introduction to TiE Groups.
In the near future, I aim to turn this blog into a wiki-space wherein we can all learn together how to follow God in the way of Jesus for the sake of others. TiE is simply a way to get started doing that. It will take me bit to get the programming done to allow this so please be patient. For now, just use the comments function to tell us what you are learning or ask any question and I’ll add your thoughts as appropriate.
I imagine that some things have changed in the blog world since I’ve been gone—or at least just been peaking in and out occasionally. So, I’m hoping you hang with me as I get up and running again. I am just learning to use WordPress—actually I am so lame a friend had to post this for me…some things never change 
Nevertheless, I hope to post 2 or 3 times a week—learning as I go.
Peace!
Good to see the site is up and running, I ‘ve been watching for it since I ran across reference to TiE on the Vineyard Canada website. Looking for a way to get past people’s preconceptions of what the Christian walk really means seems to me to be The challenge to evangelism in Western society. Thanks for taking a shot at it.
Todd,
We’ve spoken once on the phone a while back through a mutual friend, Mike Bishop, and met at one of the first Allelon gatherings. A new friend from the web just gave me the link to this site after reading on my blog what some friends and I are trying to lead in downtown West Palm Beach, out of a para-church ministry for inner-city youth. I’m blown away and encouraged by the similarities of what we’ve been working toward. You can check my blog for more details, but we’ve been calling our micro-groups “workout partners”. We also took some pieces from Ogden, Willard, AA and COS trying to find a way to invite people into productive apprenticeship to Jesus in inner-city West Palm. Have your friend print out a few of the recent posts from my blog
if you’ve got the time, and let me know your thoughts. We’ll definitely be checking back here to see what you and others are doing in this vein. (We’ll likely add you to our distinguished list of folks we rip off for ideas.)
Good to read you online again.
Todd,
Good to see you back writing again. Look forward to reading the book. Sounds like you have some good stuff going on…let’s catch up soon.
-Bish
Great stuff here! I am looking forward to the postings 2 or 3 times a week. We definitely need some help learning how to follow Jesus for the sake of others. Looking forward to learning more with you.
Welcome back to the blogosphere! You’ve been missed.
Welcome back Todd … it’s been quite a while since those memorable phone calls and emails. I’m looking forward to draw on your insights and get the upcoming book.
as well as continue our global conversation again …
Welcome back mate
Hi Todd!
As I said to you in an email some days ago, it’s wonderfull to see how hearts can be aligned when God’s heart is the red line. Good to have you blogging again, your toughts are food for brains and water for souls . welcome back friend. thanks for sharing your heart.
Hey Todd,
Nice to see the site finally up and running with all of those wonderful FAQ’s. Several folks from the Soul Survior meeting in OC have been stopping by my blog looking for you so I just added the link to this new web blog of yours.
Home all is well.
Randy Gorden
3CI Whittier
Hey Todd:
Kewl. I can hardly wait to get started with a TiE group at my law office. Lawyers are a tough crowd….so help!!!!! Really looking forward to learning loads more from you at the Converational Evangelism Conference in Phoenix. (shameless plug for the conference so might as well go all the way (www.conversationalevangelism.net).
Hi Todd:
Great to hear the audio of your presentation–it made me miss your preaching and teaching all over again! This is the most practical, “real” tool I’ve seen in more than 26 years of striving to live out my faith in a meaningful way the workplace. Thank you for allowing God to lead you in this new direction–and for this wonderful blog.