The first trans-local weekly peer-mentoring relationship grew out of
the friendship between Nathan and co-collaborator Bruce Cheever and
lasted for well over two years. The conversation and sketch grew
however, and Bruce Cheever, Paul Mussachio, Karyn Huffman, and
Kevan Penvose became co-visionaries and co-collaborators in
dreaming this present work. As Kevan entered his Ph. D. studies at
Marquette University in Milwaukee, he took the lead as chief
articulator for the theological underpinnings of our collaboration and
identity, the results of which are MDIVnet’s “Guiding Gifts,” and
marks for discipleship, “Living W.O.R.S.H.I.P.” He’s also helped
Nathan break his vision for leadership into MDIVnet’s “Six Postures
for Leadership.” Karyn and Paul have kept the bar high and have
helped to word-smith, constructively critique, and shape our
collaboration in ways that have incredible existential cash value.
In the Fall of 2005 the four of us formed the first Emmaus Team and
committed to a year of journeying together in vulnerability,
teachability, and experimentation in peer coaching.
Since that time we have grown. In the Fall of 2006, our first Emmaus
Team split and four more excellent young leaders joined us in mission
and conversation. They are Shelly Nelson-Bridger, Travis Kern, Tara
Lynn, and Stephen Bond.
As we begin new Emmaus Teams this Fall (2007), four new cohorts
will be launched in the 4th iteration of this work. All the members of
the network and their biographies can be seen (HERE).
For the five of us who began this journey, the impetus and passion for
this collaboration comes from a fervent hope: that the church and her
leaders might lead and dream, serve and cooperate as if the Tomb of
Jesus the Messiah were in fact truly empty.
And so, along with our "historical" identity, we understand that we
have a theological identity as well...one that shapes how we look at
each other, how we serve each other, how we lead one another, and
how we participate in this world. This identity is not one that we
shape; rather it is shaped by the only living God through his radical
grace given to us in his Guiding Gifts.
Identity: “God’s Guiding Gifts”
We are children of God, claimed through Jesus’ death and
resurrection to be servants within God’s reign. Because Jesus is risen
and ascended into heaven, his Holy Spirit calls and empowers us to
participate in Jesus’ mission to reconcile all things to God, which
conforms the world and reforms the church. This is the personal
transformation we expect to shape church leaders, and in turn how
church leaders build communities of Jesus’ disciples equipped to live
their witness in the world. Baptized into Jesus' mission, we inherit
the genetic code of resurrection-DNA, characterized by . . .
God’s Guiding Gifts:
1. Jesus is Lord, God’s GIFT of resurrection!
2. God’s GIFTS are free!
3. God’s GIFTS reconcile broken people!
4. God’s GIFTS work through each of us!
5. God GIFTS us for the world!
GOSPEL: Jesus is Lord, God’s GIFT of resurrection!
Jesus is risen! Though God’s determined love for us led him to give his
life on a cross, God has raised him from the dead. He is Lord, because
death no longer has the final word in our life’s story; Jesus does. He
is the one beyond death. When our lives seem like a meaningless
effort in the shadow of the death that awaits us all, Jesus gives our
lives meaning with the ultimate word of eternal life. Eternity doesn’t
wait until we die. Eternity encompasses every moment of our lives.
Our lives are the story of anticipating God’s gift of resurrection in
Jesus that reconciles the world to God. The reign of God is at hand,
the time has come; repent and believe.
GRACE: God’s GIFTS are free!
Because Jesus is Lord, nothing and no one else can be -- including me.
There is nothing I can do to earn God’s gift in Jesus. It’s no-strings-
attached free. We don’t have to be the right kind of person, a member
of an in-group, or hold any credentials. In fact, those things usually
get in the way of recognizing the abundant blessing God invites us into
free of charge. Who are we to think ourselves worthy of such a gift?
Only the very people whom Jesus invites into God’s life!
SIMULTANEOUSLY SAINTS AND SINNERS: God’s GIFTS reconcile
broken people!
We don’t have to get it right, which is good because we never will.
God transforms mess-ups like us into mess-ups through whom Jesus
accomplishes miraculous deeds. No matter how screwed up we are, or
how lousy we may think other people are, everyone has a place set for
them at the feast hosted by Jesus. All are invited. Everyone is
welcome. The one made known in the murdered and resurrected
Jesus is now busy reconciling the world to God. That includes you.
And that means everybody.
PRIESTHOOD OF THE BAPTIZED: God’s GIFTS work through each of
us!
Reconciliation happens when we repent of our desire to be lord, and
wake up to God’s reign breaking in all around us. In our relationships
with one another, Jesus reaches people. God gives each of us gifts to
be a vessel of Jesus’ love, to make people into his disciples. God
actually gives these gifts away -- and to us, of all people! The
vulnerable God who reaches us in Jesus’ death really does depend on
our participation, in our own broken way. For Jesus to continue his
mission in the world, each one of us has a special role to play by using
our gifts for God’s intentions.
THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS: God GIFTS us for the world!
God intends to reconcile all things into the divine life. God doesn’t do
this from afar. God doesn’t go about it by staying behind walls. No,
God gets involved in the messiness and the meaningless suffering of
human life. God denies our requests to be blessed by escaping life’s
troubles. If we want to know the blessing that comes by being in the
presence of this God, then we will follow Jesus into ugly, stinky,
disturbing places to reach the people God intends to reconcile. This
means that when we think of serving our Lord, our thoughts first and
primarily turn toward what we do beyond our own walls. Only then
do we consider our actions within our walls, all for the purpose of
using our gifts, risking our prosperity, and losing our lives to follow
where Jesus leads. The bottom line is, we receive God’s gifts for the
sake of God’s world.
the friendship between Nathan and co-collaborator Bruce Cheever and
lasted for well over two years. The conversation and sketch grew
however, and Bruce Cheever, Paul Mussachio, Karyn Huffman, and
Kevan Penvose became co-visionaries and co-collaborators in
dreaming this present work. As Kevan entered his Ph. D. studies at
Marquette University in Milwaukee, he took the lead as chief
articulator for the theological underpinnings of our collaboration and
identity, the results of which are MDIVnet’s “Guiding Gifts,” and
marks for discipleship, “Living W.O.R.S.H.I.P.” He’s also helped
Nathan break his vision for leadership into MDIVnet’s “Six Postures
for Leadership.” Karyn and Paul have kept the bar high and have
helped to word-smith, constructively critique, and shape our
collaboration in ways that have incredible existential cash value.
In the Fall of 2005 the four of us formed the first Emmaus Team and
committed to a year of journeying together in vulnerability,
teachability, and experimentation in peer coaching.
Since that time we have grown. In the Fall of 2006, our first Emmaus
Team split and four more excellent young leaders joined us in mission
and conversation. They are Shelly Nelson-Bridger, Travis Kern, Tara
Lynn, and Stephen Bond.
As we begin new Emmaus Teams this Fall (2007), four new cohorts
will be launched in the 4th iteration of this work. All the members of
the network and their biographies can be seen (HERE).
For the five of us who began this journey, the impetus and passion for
this collaboration comes from a fervent hope: that the church and her
leaders might lead and dream, serve and cooperate as if the Tomb of
Jesus the Messiah were in fact truly empty.
And so, along with our "historical" identity, we understand that we
have a theological identity as well...one that shapes how we look at
each other, how we serve each other, how we lead one another, and
how we participate in this world. This identity is not one that we
shape; rather it is shaped by the only living God through his radical
grace given to us in his Guiding Gifts.
Identity: “God’s Guiding Gifts”
We are children of God, claimed through Jesus’ death and
resurrection to be servants within God’s reign. Because Jesus is risen
and ascended into heaven, his Holy Spirit calls and empowers us to
participate in Jesus’ mission to reconcile all things to God, which
conforms the world and reforms the church. This is the personal
transformation we expect to shape church leaders, and in turn how
church leaders build communities of Jesus’ disciples equipped to live
their witness in the world. Baptized into Jesus' mission, we inherit
the genetic code of resurrection-DNA, characterized by . . .
God’s Guiding Gifts:
1. Jesus is Lord, God’s GIFT of resurrection!
2. God’s GIFTS are free!
3. God’s GIFTS reconcile broken people!
4. God’s GIFTS work through each of us!
5. God GIFTS us for the world!
GOSPEL: Jesus is Lord, God’s GIFT of resurrection!
Jesus is risen! Though God’s determined love for us led him to give his
life on a cross, God has raised him from the dead. He is Lord, because
death no longer has the final word in our life’s story; Jesus does. He
is the one beyond death. When our lives seem like a meaningless
effort in the shadow of the death that awaits us all, Jesus gives our
lives meaning with the ultimate word of eternal life. Eternity doesn’t
wait until we die. Eternity encompasses every moment of our lives.
Our lives are the story of anticipating God’s gift of resurrection in
Jesus that reconciles the world to God. The reign of God is at hand,
the time has come; repent and believe.
GRACE: God’s GIFTS are free!
Because Jesus is Lord, nothing and no one else can be -- including me.
There is nothing I can do to earn God’s gift in Jesus. It’s no-strings-
attached free. We don’t have to be the right kind of person, a member
of an in-group, or hold any credentials. In fact, those things usually
get in the way of recognizing the abundant blessing God invites us into
free of charge. Who are we to think ourselves worthy of such a gift?
Only the very people whom Jesus invites into God’s life!
SIMULTANEOUSLY SAINTS AND SINNERS: God’s GIFTS reconcile
broken people!
We don’t have to get it right, which is good because we never will.
God transforms mess-ups like us into mess-ups through whom Jesus
accomplishes miraculous deeds. No matter how screwed up we are, or
how lousy we may think other people are, everyone has a place set for
them at the feast hosted by Jesus. All are invited. Everyone is
welcome. The one made known in the murdered and resurrected
Jesus is now busy reconciling the world to God. That includes you.
And that means everybody.
PRIESTHOOD OF THE BAPTIZED: God’s GIFTS work through each of
us!
Reconciliation happens when we repent of our desire to be lord, and
wake up to God’s reign breaking in all around us. In our relationships
with one another, Jesus reaches people. God gives each of us gifts to
be a vessel of Jesus’ love, to make people into his disciples. God
actually gives these gifts away -- and to us, of all people! The
vulnerable God who reaches us in Jesus’ death really does depend on
our participation, in our own broken way. For Jesus to continue his
mission in the world, each one of us has a special role to play by using
our gifts for God’s intentions.
THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS: God GIFTS us for the world!
God intends to reconcile all things into the divine life. God doesn’t do
this from afar. God doesn’t go about it by staying behind walls. No,
God gets involved in the messiness and the meaningless suffering of
human life. God denies our requests to be blessed by escaping life’s
troubles. If we want to know the blessing that comes by being in the
presence of this God, then we will follow Jesus into ugly, stinky,
disturbing places to reach the people God intends to reconcile. This
means that when we think of serving our Lord, our thoughts first and
primarily turn toward what we do beyond our own walls. Only then
do we consider our actions within our walls, all for the purpose of
using our gifts, risking our prosperity, and losing our lives to follow
where Jesus leads. The bottom line is, we receive God’s gifts for the
sake of God’s world.
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| Mission Driven in Vision network |
| "facilitating trans-local team ministry for the sake of adaptive leadership in Jesus' mission" |
| identity |
MDIVnet began as a holy discontent
for Jesus' church and a passion to see
leadership built that can authentically
and genuinely follow Jesus into the
21st century. The first sketches of
this dream were formed in the long
shadows of the Rockies in the Fall of
2003. Nathan Swenson-Reinhold was
in his second year (as a Pastoral
Resident) at Abiding Hope Lutheran
Church, Littleton, Colordao, and was
fired up with the possibility of a
church that lives and breathes the
air of THE empty tomb.
for Jesus' church and a passion to see
leadership built that can authentically
and genuinely follow Jesus into the
21st century. The first sketches of
this dream were formed in the long
shadows of the Rockies in the Fall of
2003. Nathan Swenson-Reinhold was
in his second year (as a Pastoral
Resident) at Abiding Hope Lutheran
Church, Littleton, Colordao, and was
fired up with the possibility of a
church that lives and breathes the
air of THE empty tomb.