AUTHOR: Robin Dugall DATE: 8:20:00 AM ----- BODY:

I know it must be a "God thing" but I have been emailing Scot McKnight and reading his blog and books over the past months. I was inspired by the first of his books I read, Jesus Creed. Then, after following his blog entries for months, Scot had his newest book published, Embracing Grace. Here are a few tasty morsels: "God designs the gospel for more than my goodness and my sin and my redemption and my liberation and my experience and my chance to go to heaven when I die. The gospel is about us before it is about me. My own I is in the Us, and a gospel of I without an US is a gospel about me. I’m glad the gospel is for me but it is about more than me!" "The Church is not a collection of random individuals who happen to believe in Jesus Christ, who happen to be working out “their own salvation”, who happen to be living in proximity to one another, who happen to enjoy the same preachers and musicians and liturgy, and who happen to affirm the same doctrinal convictions. The Church is a community of faith wherein humans are re-communioned” to one another." "There are four characteristics of such (Missional) communities of faith: these Christians look out and see people and the world, they listen to the pain of people and the groanings of the world, they learn what they can do, and they link themselves to those local needs for the good of others and the world. Missional communities incarnate a holistic gospel. Anything less is not the gospel." Now, I want to be honest about my first reading of this book, I am in the process of completing my LAST reading assignments for my doctorate...so I'm inundated right now with Barth, Brueggemann, Dale Patrick and a host of others. What I did was use Scot's new book as a means of cleansing paletteette" before I got back to my mandatory reading. I am going to pour over the book again during Thanksgiving...it is too good to pass up. For now though, know that Scot has just agreed to join our Youth Leadership Institute journey this next summer. He's going to join us for TEAM 06 at APU and will most likely be teaching on being missional in a postmodern context. That's my initial idea, at least for now. To say the least, I'm stoked. Can't wait for that interaction and to have someone of Scot's giftedness join our already "empowered" staff of teachers and leaders (including Mike DeVries, Sarah Sumner, Steve Gerali, Nate Barnes, Steve Peisner, as well as the "usual" suspects, Jessy, Sally, Chaya, Brian, Aaron, Shad, Dean, Roy, Markie, etc. etc.). So, if you are reading this and you are a youth pastor or you are passionate about students discovering how God has called them to be difference makers to His glory, then dial in with our YLI journey next summer. Check out our website (www.yliapu.org). Otherwise, go and pick up this book. I know you'll be challenged and inspired.

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