Austin's 'emergent' Christians finding a new path

I was surprised and encouraged to see this article featuring Vox Veniae Church in Austin, TX about how they are breaking from traditional church expressions and innovating to bring the Gospel to the community. Even more interesting is that the church originally began as a church plant off of a traditional Chinese Baptist church in Austin. It's even more interesting because I started listening to Gideon Tsang on podcast about a year ago, he's a really good preacher, one of my favorites to hear.

The son of a Chinese missionary, Tsang, 33, grew up in Canada, attended an evangelical seminary in Illinois and eventually landed at Austin Chinese Church — a North Austin congregation made up mostly of immigrants from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan — where he led a ministry for college students called Liquid. That grew into Vox Veniae, which formed last year with a core of middle-class students and young professionals who, like Tsang, longed "to be the hands and feet of Christ in Austin."

Vox members have now bought or are renting six homes in the predominantly black and Hispanic neighborhood, driven by a desire to share their resources by living among people who have less. Vox members hope to set up computer training classes, teach kids to build bikes and work as mentors in nearby public schools.

"It's all grace," Tsang said. "What we receive, we now have to give back."

A Quiet Strength

Tony Dungy's bio, Quiet Strength has become a runaway hit, going into its 8th printing and staying in the New York Times bestsellers list for over 7 weeks. I got this book for my birthday and finished it two days. Its a great read with lots of insights about the unique life of a pro football coach. But the book has a lot more to talk about than football - it details the values, principles and spiritual insights of a great man who has been through all the highs and lows of a full life. Definitely check it out if you are interested at all in football and seeing into the character of a truly remarkable man.