In the summer of 1998 I discovered the Internet as a means of communication. No, I didn't "invent" the internet like Al Gore. Prior to that summer, I knew there were services called Compuserve and America Online, but I didn't know how the internet worked, or that it could be used as a means of communication. What I did know is that I wanted to do something to encourage and support ministry to the emerging generations.

I was raised in a denominational church. This particular group had a legalistic bent. When my first marriage failed, I began a spiritual journey that eventually brought me to the pastorate of a Vineyard church. Along the way I became interested in church growth theory and church planting. A father of four teenagers, I also became concerned that the church was doing little to avoid the mistakes it had made with my generation.

By and large, the church missed the baby boomer generation. Permissive parenting styles, situational ethics and increased experimentation with recreational drugs created an atmosphere where no religious practice was more common than nominalism. The "don't trust anyone over 30" generation certainly didn't trust the church to solve their spiritual "issues." New age religion abounded in the "age of Aquarius."

When this environment was coupled with authoritarian leadership styles, traditional church liturgies, and an unwillingness to listen to the real concerns of my generation, the result, in most cases, was a massive exodus from mainline denominations and Catholicism, particularly in North America. Europe was already post-Christian. While the third-world was experiencing a pentacostal-led awakening, there were few bright spots on the North American church scene. 

The Jesus People movement that spawned the Calvary Chapels, the Vineyards, the Hope Chapels and some of the largest congregations in the history of Christendom, while heartening, did not truly penetrate the heart of my generation. As one of those who had left the church and then returned in my late 30's I did not see a lot being done to strategically target and communicate the gospel in a meaningful way to what I thought of as generation X.

With these thoughts in mind I approached a friend of mine, Rogier Bos, and asked him to edit a web magazine to deal with these issues. When I first talked with Rogier, the term postmodern was not on my radar. I had seen John Wimber lecture on the cycles of a movement. As he drew 20-yr. waves on a whiteboard, it struck me that with every generation God was calling another wave of leaders to reach the world with his message. I told Rogier we would call the web magazine, Next-Wave, and he took it from there.

I had become acquainted with Rogier Bos while he interned at a nearby church. Rogier is a native of the Netherlands. He was also a fledgling web designer and a student of the postmodern cultural shift that had already affected Europe and was beginning to be an important topic of conversation in the North American church. Rogier's calling was to participate in God's plans for church planting in Europe. He set the course that Next-Wave has followed for the last five years.

As he wrote in the inaugural issue: "Next-Wave is a web magazine for leaders about ministry and church in the 21st century, or postmodern era. Our goal is to connect pioneers, and to become a place to exchange insights, stories, pieces of wisdom, questions, models, experiences and strategies."

With a background in publishing a local weekly newspaper in the early 70s, I was unprepared for Next-Wave's eventual reach. It cost me hundreds of dollars to print 3000 newspapers and deliver them to the local community on a weekly basis in 1972. Next-Wave was available to millions of readers on every continent for a cost of less than $100 per month.

Rogier received a small stipend during the months that he created and edited Next-Wave. When he and Sophie returned with their family to the Netherlands to begin their ministry with Christian Associates International, the press of family life, the move, starting a new ministry position and a new business made it impossible for him to continue editing Next-Wave.

Next-Wave has been created by the participation of its contributors. The first contributing editor, David Hopkins, became its most prolific author and the second editor of Next-Wave. David began writing for Next-Wave while he was still a student at Texas A&M. In his early 20s, David carried his responsibilities with Next-Wave while he held his first high school English teaching job, wrote his first play, became engaged and then married to his wife, Melissa.

I became acquainted with Next-Wave's current editor, Jason Evans, when I received his article, the Church at Matthew's House. Jason is one of the emerging practitioners of the "simple" church movement. He has created an extensive editorial team, transitioned Next-Wave to a new collaborative editing software environment, and is as passionate as I am about seeing new churches planted to reach the emerging generations.

In between the editorial tenures of these three young men, I have fulfilled the publishing and editorial roles with Next-Wave. While our design has always been pretty funky, until recently, our content has always been challenging. Each of the Next-Wave editors are involved in blogging, to one degree or another. Each of us have written our observations about what we see God doing, particularly in the North American mission field. Some of the writing is theological, a lot of it is practical.

As I write these words I hope to continue to be a part of what God is doing to advance His Kingdom on the earth. I hope to one of those who gives permission, encouragement and support to those who will lead the emerging churches of the 21st century.

Blessings,

Charlie Wear, Huntington Beach, CA. January 3, 2004.

P.S. I have spent time compiling some of the articles written by editors of Next-Wave over the past five years....you can check those out here>>>>