The Present Future DVD study series

Conversations change the world. Abraham’s conversation with an invisible God forever altered human history. Moses’ conversations with a voice emanating from a burning bush initiated the biggest event in Old Testament history. Paul’s conversation with a resurrected Jesus launched the Christian movement as a phenomenon. And, most dramatically, the Word became flesh—the conversation of God with humanity took an unprecedented leap—and the discussion about God has never been the same.

Conversations change our church. That’s why we plan to offer this DVD series. These sessions create the opportunity for us to convene around some conversations that may help change the future of our congregation.

The issues raised in this study are not just about identifying the next methodological fad. The content is much larger in scope. We want to have conversations about God is up to in the world and how we can join Him in what He is blessing. The discussion will cause us to examine what we are doing and why. These are questions that every leader and every church should be asking at this critical time.

In this series the conversations will be framed around ten sessions. We plan to offer these sessions two different times—on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings (usually a week after the Thursday). Here’s what the schedule and topics look like.

• Session 1: Preparing for the Future — a conversation designed to raise the possibility of experiencing a spiritual awakening and its implications for believers and the church
• Session 2: What Are You Looking At? –  The DVD series introduction that challenges participants to turn their attention to the world around them.
• Session 3: The Collapse of the Church Culture, Part 1  — A session that examines the impact on the church of the rise of distinct generational cultures in North America
• Session 4: The Collapse of the Church Culture, Part 2 –  A discussion that confronts participants with the reality that getting back to the Christian movement will require a de-conversion from “churchianity”
• Session 5: From Church Growth to Kingdom Growth  — A shift that moves our agenda from building great churches to serving our communities
• Session 6: A New Reformation: Releasing God’s People  — A way of thinking that turns church members into missionaries and requires that they be freed from church involvement
• Session 7: The Return of Spiritual Formation  — The need to address a fundamental need to help people grow as people, not just better church members
• Session 8: From Planning to Preparation  — A look at how churches must move beyond incremental thinking (the result of planning more of the same) into partnering with God in His redemptive modality when getting ready for the future
• Session 9: The Rise of Apostolic Leadership  — The reality of leadership requirements for spiritual leaders in a world that resembles A.D. 30
• Session 10: What’s Next?  — An exploration of what next steps might be taken by believers and churches to align themselves with God’s future for them

These 90-minutes sessions will provide us with a common language to reframe our

problems so we can get different solutions as we face a future that is presenting us with unprecedented challenges in terms of how we go about being the people of God.

We will provide a discussion guide to each participant at no charge. However, we recommend that you get the book The Present Future and read the appropriate sections in preparation for upcoming session.

Get ready for a life-changing, church-changing, community-changing, world-changing, eternity-changing experience! Join us we begin.

Welcome to the present future!

[attached is a PDF version of this document with possible dates and times as a working document over the summer]