My friend Jonathon Dodson blogs at Church Planting Novice and truly adds value to the church planting/missional conversation. Jonathan’s blog is filled with praxis, missional thinking, theological reflection and culture engagement. I say this is by far the best blog for church planters.

Aaron Ivey, another friend and local Austinite is one of the worship pastors at Austin Stone. Aaron’s blog is a mix of humor, missional thinking, social justice and all things worship. It’s rare to read one of Aaron’s  posts and not laugh or cry.

Eugene Cho blogs on EVERYTHING. Eugene planted Quest Church, launched Q Cafe and is now in the process of starting a non-profit to fight global poverty. Eugene spends a lot of time reflecting on current news stories and how the church can/should respond.

Bob Roberts is a mega-church pastor in Dallas and an author with multiple books about the church and global engagement. Bob is bold, thoughtful and passionate. I think Bob demonstrates a great example of what a pastor should look like. He engages culture…He’s not locked away into some corner office spouting out church wisdom from on high. Pastors and churches  can make a huge cultural impact if they so choose to.  I think Bob is a great example of that.

JR Woodward has a tremendous blog. JR is a church planter, practical theologian, mission thinker and global traveler. Every post is thoughtful and filled with a lot of practical wisdom. This blog is a great resource that truly inspires and causes deep reflection.

Ben Arment blogs about creativity and innovation. Ben is a former church planter and now works at Catalyst. Ben is opinionated, concise and posts a ton of valuable information on a broad range of topics.

Seth Godin…enough said!

Nick Asolas is a youth pastor (currently changing positions) in AZ. Nick posted some quality thoughts on youth ministry, politics and yes…sports. Nick is opinionated and not scared to hold his ground. It’s only because of the gospel what we are friends as Nick’s HATES the Red Sox and Lakers…So that makes for some good Twitter battles come Oct and June.

Texas in Africa is a blog that I always enjoy. Laura teaches at U. of Texas, activist for all things Africa and world traveler among other things. I think she has an important voice as a missional thinker who works in the education system and not in the traditional pastoral role. Her blogs are witty, researched and thoughtful.

Todd Hiestand is a church planter in the suburbs of Philly. If you’re a church planter in suburbia and you need to figure out how to create a missional community-then Todd is a key voice that you can learn from.

Charles Lee is a pastor, teaches at Life Bible College and also runs a non-profit. But for some reason I don’t think he’s all that busy. I’m going to be chatting with Charles next week on the phone. Looking forward to that.

Brandon Hatmaker is a local Austin pastor and also leads a non-profit. Brandon just planted his church in the past year and they are doing some really good work here in Austin.

Nick Asolas has become a great virtual friend. Here is what I love about Nick, he takes on challenging topics like politics and he’s not afraid to share his thoughts. Nick is a youth pastor in AZ and their church does a ton of social justice work.

Todd Hiestand is a pastor in the Philly Suburbs. Todd is a voice for the organic church in suburbia. His writing is reflective and thoughtful.

Aaron Ivey is one of the worship pastors at the Austin Stone. His blog is creative and his passion for the Kingdom is contagious. He’s also a musician and has adopted some kids from Haiti.

Jonathan Dodson is also a church planter here in Austin. I know I’ve put Jonathan on my “new bloggers” list before. But I truly think his blogs (he has three) are refreshing, practical and insightful.

John Chandler is a friend that I met through the blogging world a few years ago. He just moved from Seattle to Austin to plant a new faith community. The only downside to John is the fact that he’s an avid Denver Bronco’s fan. This is not easy for Raiders fans like me.

What bloggers are you following…Leave the URL in the comments.

Why Aren’t Your People Inviting Other People to Attend Your Church? by David Foster.

Boyd Bettis is interviewing some current church planters.

Mark Batterson posts on the four dimensions of courage.

Ministry in 2018: 12 Trends Affecting You Now by Rev Magazine.
Dan Kimball has a great post on the The Importance of Definitions.

What Shane Claiborne Would Say To Church Planters via Dave Ferguson.

I’m really digging Craig Groeschel post on doing ministry in The Second Decade.

Scott Hodge gives us a compelling reason why we should keep things simple in our churches. I can’t agree more.

Church Relevance has a good post on 10 Big Concerns in America for 2008.

Church Planting Novice shares The What and How of Church Planting (from Luke 9).

Ragamuffin get authentic with this post.

This book is not a specific book on church planting…Instead the book really deals with the idea of movement from a church’s perspective.

From Erwin’s website:

An Unstoppable Force will:

• Challenge you to see God’s vision for the mission and purpose of the church.
• Help you to explore specific changes in the culture that call for immediate change in the church.
• Offer practical ways for your church to find its unique voice and identity to express Christ’s love and faith to your culture.
• Present interactive questions in each chapter to foster discussion about the life of your church, its focus on Christ, and how it can be a richer influence on your culture.

Andrew Jones

Charles Whitmire

Jeff Mangum

Ben Arment

Mark Batterson

Tadd Grandstaff

Derek Brown

Travis Johnson

Trinity Jordan

Good list of pastors and they are taking some detailed notes.

Jeff & Gore are two of the best folks you’ll ever meet. I miss those guys so much.

You can read their stories on their blog. But let me just quickly tell you what they have decided to do. Both families (Jeff has kids, Gore does not YET, but I think he is working on it have moved in together. (They started a 20’s something ministry called Hungry, which eventually became a church plant.) They moved from Cary (burbs) and launched the church in downtown Raleigh.

So a few weeks ago, Jeff called me and wanted to chat about this crazy idea…Both families wanted to move downtown for multiple reasons. The biggest being that they are pastoring a downtown urban church; therefore they wanted to live in the same area.

Well, they made the decision, and they are moving to downtown Raleigh. Both families will live together (only way to afford living in downtown Raleigh on a church planting budget) in one of the toughest neighborhoods. High crime & drugs on one side, generfication taking place on the other side. (Right guys?)

I’m so pround of them. It takes risk, courage and wisdom to move your family out of the safety of the “burbs” and into the chaos “city” living.

So please pray for them, that God will use them and their church to redeem downtown Raleigh.

And for those who are looking for innovative churches…I think you just found one.

Shalom