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 In case you haven’t heard, Vineyard USA is in the middle of choosing a new National Director as Bert Waggoner announced that he was retiring near the beginning of the year. The process that the National Board decided to follow is an amazing one that bridges the gap between organizational oversight and Spirit lead.
The process started off in the month of May with each senior pastor nominating someone (besides themselves) that they thought would be a good National Director. The top 13 candidates (men and women) were then asked if they felt God calling them to the position. Of those 13, four of them felt compelled to walk forward – leading to a three month application and review process with the National Board, who would then choose a final candidate.The last phase of the nomination process is a movement wide confirmation of the nominated National Director by each of the local churches.
It is too this last phase of the process that I would like to draw your attention as the National Board has proposed Phil Strout as the next Vineyard USA National Director.
As he awaits the final confirmation for the local churches within the movement, Phil has posted a video introducing himself and sharing his heart for the Vineyard. I would highly recommend everyone (inside or outside the Vineyard) to watch this video as I believe it caries a message for the church in general.
Continue reading Introduction by the Newly Proposed Vineyard National Director
 Its dull broken binding stood out among the shinny full-color books that covered the table. Leaning over the top of a plethora of self-help books, I pulled John Bright’s book “The Kingdom of God” out of the ink canyon.
A dusty order drifted up to my nose as I gently cracked its pages. Scanning the table of content, my mind wondered how this jewel found its way to the library used-book sale. Tearing my eyes away, I quickly scanned the table searching for a mate… sadly; the mountain of ink only relinquished one jewel that morning.
Yet, what a jewel.
Published in 1953, “The Kingdom of God” was written during that grand period in scholarship when everything was being unturned. The first bundle of the Dead Seas Scrolls had just been discovered, casting new light on last Second Temple Judaism. The time was dawning when the theologians would begin to recognize the cultural understanding of Jesus’ words in Mark 1:15, “The time has come; the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” Continue reading Mining the Ink Mountains
 Knowing that I read some…um…strange books, I’m always on the look out for books that simplify the Kingdom message of Jesus. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of books out there talking about the ‘here and not yet’ of the Kingdom – instead, most Christian books tend to be of the self-help variety; or some kind of cheesy Christian romance (which is why I HATE going into Christian book stores!!)
Today though, I would like to introduce you to Allen Wakabayashi. Allen is the Associate Pastor at Twin City Bible Church and the Teaching Specialist for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at the University of Illinois – Champaign/Urbana. More importantly for our purposes, he is the author of “Kingdom Come: How Jesus Wants to Change the World.”
This is a book that seeks to “bridge the gap from the scholarly literature about the kingdom to the normal Christian who is not familiar with the academic material.”
Hands down, Allen pulls it off.
“Kingdom Come” is a great introduction book to Kingdom Theology – i.e. the theology of that Jesus is King of everything (created and uncreated; spiritual and physical) and He is in activity involved in the world today, bring the future Age into our world today.
Interesting enough, Allen credit George Ladd as an influence – which is pretty cool seeing the influence Ladd has made on me. 
Continue reading Kingdom Come: How Jesus Wants to Change the World
It is no secret that I am a bibliophilia (i.e. a lover of books). It is a strange thing as I used to hate books – that is until 4th grade when my brother and his best friend turned me onto Louis L’Amour. The rest, they say, is history.
Recently a friend was asked what where the top 10 influential books in his life – a task that proved to be very difficult. So much so that he decided to limit himself to 22 books. Today I have decided to follow his example and list the top ten most influential books in my life (and yes, I have kept my list to 10).
The Short List (i.e. this is my running list of books that have had the most impact on my life)
1) “From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya : A Biographical History of Christian Missions” by Ruth Tucker (1989)
This book fueled my love of following the Goose to the crazy parts of the world. It also started me on the journey of enlarging my view of the Global Church.
2) “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs” by John Foxe (1563)
A faith builder for sure. Oh to have a faith like these saints! May the Lord grant me the strength to stand firm each day.
3) “Breakthrough: Discovering the Kingdom” by Derek Morphew (1991)
Kingdom Theology 101: Probably the most influential theological book I have ever read. Continue reading What are the most influential books in your life?
 Jesus’ deeds were also a sign post declaring that the kingdom of God had come among men. The book of Isaiah mentions that when the Day of the Lord comes there would be salvation for all people: the deaf would hear, the blind see, the lame leap like deer, the dumb shout for joy, and those imprisoned would be set free (Is 29:17-19; 35:5-6; 42:6-7; 49:8-9) [Derek Morphew, Breakthrough: Discovering the Kingdom, 38-39]. Luke 7:22 and Matthew 11:5 give testimony that all of these signs were accomplished through the ministry of Jesus Christ: “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor” (Mt 11:5, New International Version).
In addition, Isaiah 43 declares that when “the LORD, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator, your King” comes He will “remember your sins no more” (Is 43:15, 25 New International Version). The Gospel texts show that Jesus of Nazareth, unlike any of the previous prophets of Israel, publically forgave the sins of the people without referring to the Temple sacrifices (Mt 9:5-6; Mk 2:5-10; Lk 5:20-24; 7:48; Jn 8:11). In effect, Jesus was simultaneously declaring Himself God while demonstrating the fact that the Day of the Lord or the Kingdom of God had come among men forever. Continue reading Defining “Kingdom of God”: A Paper (Part 3 of 3)
 Returning to the teachings of Jesus, this understanding of the “kingdom of God” helps to explain sayings such as Matthew 6:33 (also Lk12:31): “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (New American Standard). In other words, seek first the reign and rule of God in your life and He will take care of the rest.
However, there are others teachings of Jesus that do not seem to fit with the concept of the kingdom being the active rule and reign of God. In these teachings, Jesus talked about the coming of the “kingdom of God” as if it was something that was coming soon, or something that had already come. In order to understand how these passages fit within the above definition of the kingdom of God, we will need to turn to the Old Testament writings.
Within the Old Testament there is a duality where God is described both as currently being the king of world and as some day in the future being king over the world. Psalm 103:19 states that the “The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all” (New International Version). Yet, Obadiah 1 talks about the “day of the Lord” when God will become King of Israel and punish all those who do not follow Him. Continue reading Defining “Kingdom of God”: A Paper (Part 2 of 3)
 Last month I wrote a short paper about the definition of the term “kingdom of God” for my Fuller class on the Gospels. Originally, I was going to wait until I received a grade for the paper before I posted it online…but since it looks like Fuller is taking their time grading it, I figure I would go ahead and start posting sections of the paper for your reading enjoyment.
Note that while I am going to save the full bibliography until the end, I will try to include references throughout the journey so that you (and all the copyright lawyers out there) will know where I gathered my information. 
Blessings
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The Gospel texts declare that the central message of Jesus Christ was the “kingdom of God” (Mt 4:17; 9:35; Mk 1:14-15; Lk 4:43). Unfortunately, the phrase is not defined in the Gospel texts as the Biblical writers most likely assumed their readers would already know the meaning of the phrase. This leaves the modern reader in the predicament of having to define the phrase based upon the Old Testament writings, Jewish intertestamental literature, and the particular contexts in which Jesus used the phrase. Accordingly, this paper will seek to briefly define the phrase the “kingdom of God” and look at its impact on the teachings of Jesus. Continue reading Defining “Kingdom of God”: A Paper (Part 1 of 3)
At the heart of Biblical redemptive truth is the Blessed hope of the personal, glorious second advent of Jesus Christ. Salvation has to do both with the redemption of men as individuals and as a society. Salvation of individual believers includes the “redemption of the body” (Rom. 8:23). We must not only be saved from the guilt of sin, and delivered from the power of sin. Redemption is not completed until we are delivered from the very effects of sin in our moral bodies. The Biblical doctrine of the resurrection is a redemptive truth: it means the salvation of the body. This salvation will be realized only by the personal second coming of Christ.
So begins the introduction of George Ladd’s book The Blessed Hope: A Biblical Study of the Second Advent and the Rapture.
 The Blessed Hope by George Ladd A fairly easy read, this book tackles a very important issue into today’s church: the substitution of the rapture in place of the Second Coming of Christ.
Think for a minute – if you were to stop your average every-day Christian on the street and ask them what they are looking forward to when Christ comes back, what would they say? I guess that most of them would tell you that they are looking forward to the rapture when they will be taken out of this world.
Yet, Biblical the rapture is not our hope.
Our hope, our Blessed Hope – as Ladd would say – is with the return of the King of Kings. That we may dwell with Him on a renewed earth. That is what we need to be looking forward too – not a pre-tribulation rapture that takes us out of the world like a cosmic escape hatch. Continue reading The Blessed Hope: A Biblical Study of the Second Advent and the Rapture
Normally I try not to follow a book review with another book review…but I am going to make an exception today.
George Eldon Ladd's book The Presence of the Future is one of those landmark theological books that send shockwaves throughout Christendom. This is neither an overstatement nor the ramblings of a lunatic [...]
George Ladd is one of my favorite theologians for a number of reasons. The main one however is his focus on the eschatological Jesus as oppose to the “legal” or “justification” Jesus of most evangelicals.
The Last Things: An Eschatology For Laymen is one of the last book written by Ladd before he died [...]
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Who Writes This Mess? My name is Joshua Hopping and I am a Son of the Most High journeying through a foreign land following the Wild Goose (i.e. the Holy Spirit) one step at a time.
As I journey along the Way, I have the privilege of serving as the bi-vocational pastor of the Payette River Vineyard Christian Fellowship. I am also a voracious reader who loves studying church history, theology, and world missions.
This blog, "Requisite Danger", is a record of what God is teaching and showing me as I try to follow Him wherever He leads as well as occasional random thoughts. I pray that you will join me in this journey through online/offline interaction as this life is lived in community.
May His grace and peace be upon you.
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