I talked with Matthew Lee Anderson about his cover story in Christianity Today called “Here come the Radicals” (link is to the article). Matthew suggests that the “supperlative stressing” (my word not his) attitude of writers such as David Platt, Francis Chan, Shane Claiborne, and Kyle Idleman is not radical enough and actually a capitulation to the very situation they are trying to condemn. I thought the article was going to be different from what it was when I started reading (I... Read more
How does this: Relate to this: Or this: Or them? Any thoughts? Read more
What if the reasons we go to church actually perpetuates problems and doesn’t really help us get better? Studies have found most people go to church for a couple of reasons: they always have and it’s a habit based on an obligatory belief that somehow going to church is the right thing to do and somehow pleases God, others go because they are facing problems and are told that God will help them. I’m sure there are a myriad of... Read more
Over the last few years I have been agitating for churches and communities to move from speech making in preaching to a collective approach. I wrote about this in my book Preaching in the Inventive Age (formerly Preaching Re-Imagined). Here is a story of the power of that from my church, Solomon’s Porch this last Sunday as we read the story of the woman putting the two copper coins in the Temple treasury in Mark 12. Read more
After a few weeks away and few more miles on Doug’s running shoes we are back! This week we checked in with author of Bread & Wine, Shauna Niequist and poet Michael Toy. We also tackled why preaching should be crowd sourced and why the declaration “I’m not homophobic” matters for evangelicals. Listen to the audio here: Watch here: Read more
What if the God that you have given your life to, trusted in, and believed would bless and take care of – what if that God didn’t exist? I remember in the early days of my experience in the Twelve Steps, I was asked by a long-time member what my God was like. In the Twelve Steps, they have this idea that you can have a higher power of your choosing which, of course as a minister, was marginally troubling... Read more
Here is my full talk on the Perversion of Belief in: Fate, Heaven & End Times http://youtu.be/KbsO7etvZHQ Read more
Something I have been pondering suggests a potential pitfall for missional dialogs that repeat the pattern established by Evangelicals and their predecessors. As demonstrated by my friend Steve Knight and his networks, I believe this is a faulty assumption, but I am concerned about the direction the missional conversation might take. Is Missional another way to place the primary mode of Christian expression a ‘bring them in for Jesus’ end that Evangelicals have established? Or put differently, Is the goal... Read more
There is no question that ignorance can harm us; but I’m not sure knowing better is necessarily equated to doing better. When we are ignorant of something, we simply don’t know and we act in accordance. A great example is how in the first half of the 20th century doctors would recommend cigarettes to help ease their patients’ nerves. And it worked! But, it also gave people cancer. Ignorance. Knowing that smoking kills has no question motivated many people to stop,... Read more
The bible is not the WORD OF GOD. And if we believe it as such, then we have made the bible into an idol. The bible has become the Church’s idol. It is the Golden Calf of our day. The ancient Hebrews had taken the God of their forefathers and formed him into their image. They made him take on their identity because they could not grasp to what extent the WORD OF GOD was present with them. Yes, indeed... Read more
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