One Life…

Acts 29 is a church planting network that was founded by Mars Hill Seattle and helps plant churches that plant churches. It is a resource I draw on that I would say is very different from the Mosaic movement and Mars Hill Michigan. In fact Mars Hill Seattle would probably enjoy a street fight with Mars Hill Michigan.

Much of this is fueled by Mark Driscoll, who people simply love or hate. I have no problems seeing past most of the peripheral issues and drawing from most ‘camps’ in the church planting world. Whatever your thoughts on Driscoll are, he sure does make biblethumping almost seem cool again.

I visited Mars Hill during the summer when I was in Seattle. It’s definitely a young crowd. And as anti-femenist as they are pegged to be, there were just as many girls there as there were guys. It’s amazing what they’ve done in their short history.

I also had a chance to meet up with Scott Thomas the A29 church planting director the following day. I love how theologically-driven they are. Mars Hill Seattle and the A29 Network would consider themselves first Christian, then Evangelical,then Missional, and finally Reformed.

They have an adapted model of Leslie Newbegin’s Gospel <-> Chruch <-> Culture and what they call a ministry matrix that shapes how they do things, from Christology -> Ecclesiology -> Missiology -> Ministry.

I’ve learned quite about both theologially and practically through their resources over the last several years. While I understand how many ministries need to recoup costs, one of the things I love about Mars Hill and all things related, is that they make their resources free.

There’s much more if you dig through their primary websites, but I’ll list off some of my top picks here. Again, I’ll try to continually keep this page updated. Let me know if you’ve got some excellent finds.

ARTICLES

Here is a digital copy of the Acts 29 Church Planting manual that I acquired which gets handed out at the bootcamps.
Mars Bars - Article on Mars Hill and the Paradox Venue
Interview with Mark Driscoll 2006
Church planting trends as seen by Mark Driscoll - Notes from Steve Addison’s blog

MEDIA - They are all audio mp3 links and video where specified

The Ox - Qualifications of an Acts 29 Church Planter - Mark Driscoll
Reverse Engineering your life - Mark Driscoll
Church planting resources and timeline - Steve Tompkins
Theology - Knowing God’s mission - Mark Driscoll
On Mission as One - John Ryan
Art Gospel and Culture - Ed Marcelle
Jesus-Centered Reformed Theology - Chan Kilgore
Death by Love - Mark Driscoll @ Reform & Resurge 2006 / Video
Gravity: The weight of pastoring - Matt Chandler @ R&R 2006 - A must listen! / Video
Preaching the Gospel - Tim Keller @ R&R 2006 / Video
Humble Orthodoxy - Joshua Harris @ R&R 2006 / Video
Breaking the Missional Code - Ed Stetzer @ R&R 2006 / Video
Life and Death of the Missional Leader - Darrin Patrick @ R&R 2006 / Video
Mars Hill in Acts 17 - Mark Driscoll
The Whole Glory of the Gospel of God part 1 and 2 - John Piper @ Reformission 2004
Reformission: Reforming Christian Mission - Mark Driscoll
Holy Hospitality - Mark Driscoll
Theology of Alcohol - Mark Driscoll

Some pictures from my visit