Last week I was in Vancouver Canada at a gathering for Church Planting Canada addressing crucial issues in church planting. It was very encouraging to see the number of people who were actually practitioners seeking to be incarnational and missional. I talked about the ways I’ve seen the field of church planting change over the years, and what that means for the approaches we take in developing disciples and serving the least of these.

I found that I came away refreshed and encouraged after a time of sharing stories of missional ministry. So much so that I think I’ll share some stories in upcoming blog entries from various people in various places who are involved in misssional ministry. Sometimes we just need to be reminded of what God is doing in places outside our own sphere and gain a broader perspective.

One participant at the event, Jim Walton, wrote me this note afterwards:  “Just a short note to thank you for yesterday’s time at Southpoint. I found the session very helpful and informative. I came with some struggles regarding how nurture discipleship in our leaders and the people God has given us contact with from our neighbourhood given our diversity. I left feeling that God had equipped me through the conference and will begin to implement some of what God taught me as I meet with a recovering heroin addict for dinner and a movie this evening and with our staff tomorrow.”