<Theofragen>

The last few venues in which we discussed issues of emergence within CBF have gone extremely well. The Atlanta meeting served as a general overview of some of the salient points of similarity between CBF and EV. The Chattanooga gathering led us into a more in-depth treatment of an emerging vision of hope that many of us see within the Fellowship. Now I would like to invite any and all who are interested to a third gathering that will surpass the others both in specificity and casualness.

Mike Lewis, a church planter in Hoover, AL, was a strong contributor at the Chattanooga gathering. There he expressed his passion for church planting and his desire to facilitate new church start initiatives. Mike was also one of several key CBF leaders who participated in a meeting hosted in Nashville last May to discuss the possibilities of "forging a church-starts culture within the national CBF movement." That meeting, which included leaders from four state CBF groups as well as the national Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, was an essential first step toward fueling such a culture. Those of us within CBF who are also a part of the emergent conversation see hope materializing on the horizon in the form of a potential partnership between the two organizations. That hope, for me, is most poignant in the area of new church starts.

Next week, Mike and I will both be participating in a Church Planters Boot Camp hosted at the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. For those of you who might find yourself at this boot camp, live within the Richmond area, or are willing to drive there, you are welcome to meet Mike and I at the Capital Ale House to chat about planting emergent communities in partnership with CBF. This gathering is open to inquisitors from both sides. In other words, we welcome those of you who are a part of the emergent conversation and want to explore the possibilities of participating in the church starts culture being generated within the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Likewise, this conversation will serve as a forum for exploration for those of you who have found a comfortable space under the CBF umbrella and would like to explore the fecundity of the emergent conversation from your context.

We will be meeting at the pub around 8:00 PM on Thursday, August 24. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. Additionally, we will need to call ahead for reservations if we have more than 8 people, so if you would like to attend please let me know. Peace.

CBF Emergence Coming to Richmond

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