Chad Brooks

One of my favorite times of theological development and thoughts of following Jesus comes through great phone calls with old friends.

Prepping out a presentation for a church this afternoon. Came across the quote in my notebox. It is so true.

You can either save the day, or prepare people for a new day.

- Tod Bolsinger

Is my church healthy? (understanding the vitality matrix) | Normal-Sized Church with Chad Brooks

Church health can be measured in what I call "the vitality index" and it's how I operate here in Louisiana.

• Unstable
• Stable
• Vital
• Sustainable.

Read more -> bit.ly/40hTSZh

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Just because your church is stable doesn't necessarily mean it is healthy. Also, if things are unstable, shooting for the stars and imitating the big church down the street isn't the best strategy either.

All of this stemmed from a 5-minute conversation over a burger last year.

Liz - I'm in Central Louisiana and work with the United Methodists. I'd love to chat if you are open to it.

downloaded and cue'd up to read this week!

Hand raise!

I downloaded an academic article this morning. I found myself laughing a bit when I saw the file name. It had the word "final" in it around 3x.

Glad others have to do the same thing.

I miss the Christian/Theology podcast scene of 2005. You'd hear of someone giving a great talk somewhere and you could find the audio through a handful of great accounts.

Now, I've spent the last 20 minutes hunting a special lecture series and the audio isn't anywhere.

I think the first finger we ever need to point is towards ourselves. I love being UMC, have my issues with it, but want to direct more energy towards what it means to be a theological wesleyan/methodist than dunking on those I don't agree with.

Anyone have access to Brill and can slide me an article? It doesn't appear to be in JSTOR.

Wrapping up some admin tasks before the end of the year and trying hard not to dive into the sociology of Hartmut Rosa and/or researching the Biblical scope of "trust" as a predominant theological action instead.

Y'all pray for your boy!

For the first time in at least 15 years, I didn't get a single book for Christmas. Looks like I have some catching up to do...

The daily office reading this morning is throwing me into a relaxing afternoon taking notes and making connections around a biblical theology of election from a Wesleyan perspective.

I love having time for things like this during time off.

Two solid titles.

I'm stoked for my mini-course Preach Focused Sermons launching tomorrow. 7 templates I use in every message prep, video teaching, AND my ebook on creating a 12-month preaching calendar.

$27 total.

Get on the free waitlist for 5 days of emails on sermon design.

bit.ly/PrepareFocus...

Hey Pastor -

For 15 years, nearly every sermon I've preached has started with some version of this sheet. It has been downloaded thousands of times by other leaders.

Want your copy for free? Sign up for the "Prepare Focused Sermons" waitlist and get it in your inbox.

bit.ly/PrepareFocus...

I've got another template pack I'm turning lose for a 72-hour sale after Christmas. It's focused on sermon preparation. Some of these are my oldest, most iterated personal tools.

Keep your eyes peeled for the waitlist.

I've stumbled across multiple youtube channels of CoE livestreams from University chapel services. You could call me decently obsessed with listening to these services during Advent as my morning soundtrack.

I work from home, and the line between fun and work gets kinda fuzzy sometimes. I'm in the process of creating a second space that never touches work for reading/writing.

AND a healthy dose of jiu jitsu does wonders for my soul as well!!!

Gotta have separation.

A church will spend 10 grand to send out mailers to the community but won't train their folks to be intentionally evangelistic and says working on their integration system is too complicated...

Anyone built a solid feed yet with Spiritual Formation folks? Would love to engage with more of them here.

I'm just over here streaming all the Christmas Services from Oxford and other UK Colleges. The only time I ever really wish I was British was during #Advent.

The C.o.E goes so hard during this time of the year.

Christmas/Advent 2024 Playlist · Chad Brooks · 8 items

I haven't shared my yearly Advent/Christmas playlist on bluesky yet. I add a song each day. A fun mix of sacred and secular.

I'm digging where this years vibe is going.

open.spotify.com/playlist/0uQ...

Keeping a paper prayer list helps me engage with so many things through a spiritual lens. It keeps me from functional secularism.

It isn't bad luck, ill health, or mean people. It isn't good luck, favor, or plain skill. All of life can be dealt with spiritually.

I like your odds.

When I was a kid, my Dad would watch it every week. I grew up in one of those few 1000+ churches in the 1980's and Dad (the pastor) was always taking notes.

Can't wait to read it!

Yep. I'm going to need to pre-order this. Right up my alley!

I spent the last 72 hours in South Louisiana.

Anyone wanna guess how many times I ate a dish with the word "boudin" in it?