Posts by Mark Howell
Mike Breen on Missional Communities, Part 1
Mike Breen is one of the most prominent leaders in an important grouplife trend referred to as missional community. Formerly the Senior Rector at St. Thomas Crookes, Sheffield, Breen currently leads 3DM, the global home for an organic movement of biblical discipleship and missional church that is centered in the United States. While at St.…
Read MoreThis Week in Review #1
Did you miss anything this week? Here’s what happened at MarkHowellLive.com. Review: The Organic God by Margaret Feinberg: This book really fits the recent trend of including grouplife study questions in a book with a spiritual formation theme. Bill Donahue on Turning Meetings into Moments: One of Bill’s best skill training ideas. GroupLife Insights from…
Read MoreReview: Life’s Toughest Questions (from Lifeway’s Platform Series)
Erwin McManus is easily one of the most engaging speakers today. Whether you catch him at Mosaic or at a conference…you’ll find yourself leaning forward in your seat, straining to catch every line, desperately trying to remember the phrase while you frantically try to write it down. At least for me. I love listening to…
Read MoreJohn Ortberg’s Catalyst Interview with Dallas Willard
Two of the most common names that can come up in any spiritual formation conversation are Dallas Willard and John Ortberg. Willard has contributed several of the very important books in the emphasis (The Spirit of the Disciplines, The Divine Conspiracy, and Renovation of the Heart). Ortberg has made many of Willard’s ideas accessible in…
Read MoreDilbert on Social Media Gone Awry
More and more of us are updating twitter from our phones, updating our blogs from our phones, leveraging text message systems that communicate quickly and broadly. Is this ever your life? Here’s Dilbert on social media gone awry…
Read MoreMissional Communities, Midsize Groups, and Sunday School
One of the current grouplife trends is being called a missional community by many. The idea that a group ought to exist for something beyond its own spiritual fulfillment, that it ought to exist to make a difference, to sort of live beyond itself and have impact in the community…is a definite trend. The essence…
Read MoreGroupLife Insights from William Vanderbloemen and Justin Lathrop
I think one of the most important practices we can develop is to be constantly sharpening our awareness of what’s happening, what’s growing in influence, around the country and even around the world. And I really don’t mean just within our area of ministry. I’m a fan of a much broader, more inclusive kind of…
Read MoreBill Donahue on Turning Meetings into Moments
Bill Donahue has been one of the most influential voices in small group ministry for almost two decades. As a key player in the grouplife ministry at Willow Creek Community Church and the Willow Creek Association for 18 years, Bill was involved in many of the developments that have influenced so many of us. I…
Read MoreReview: The Organic God by Margaret Feinberg
Spent some quality time with Margaret Feinberg’s The Organic God over the weekend. If you’re unfamiliar with Feinberg, let’s just say…this is a writer you need to get to know. I’ve been curious about her appeal for a couple years, after first hearing about her writing from Heather Zempel. Since then, I’ve had a number…
Read MoreNo Perfect People Allowed
If you want to reach people no one else is reaching, step one might be building a “come as you are” culture that accepts, loves and includes people who are different. In No Perfect People Allowed, John Burke describes how this culture emerged at Gateway Church in Austin, TX. Against the backdrop of the planting…
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