The other day my niece, Imani, looked at me and said: “Uncle Ben, your hair is turning white. You look like a little old man with earrings”, as she let out her classic giggle. While I’m only a few weeks shy of 38, it’s definitely true that I’ve got some gray going on. However, my gray reminds me of one thing: I was lucky enough to be a part of a generation who still had a lot of cool bands.... Read more
I don't know about you, but I want to live out a Christianity that's worth living. I want to help contribute to a reformation of American Christian culture and build a new culture where Christian friendships say, "Oh, you disagree on that theological issue? Fine by me as long as we're still playing tennis together on Saturday." Read more
Kristen Powers and Jonathan Merritt had a great article the other day pointing out the hypocritical nature of these new “religious freedom” laws that are cropping up in many states. Such laws are clothed in terms of freedom for Christians, while being incredibly un-Christian at the core. In short, these laws are designed to give Christian business owners the right to decline providing products or services for weddings that don’t meet their stamp of approval– namely, same gendered weddings. The... Read more
What are the things in your life that are sucking the life out of you? What are the things that are draining and leaving you feeling empty? The other day I listed the practice of “fasting” as one of the keys to living a more radical Christian life. I don’t know about you, but fasting wasn’t a practice I was taught growing up. As an adult, I began to see fasting exclusively in terms of food and could never figure... Read more
Two of the craziest, and sickest stories I’ve seen in a while wrap out our week here on the blog: Both of these stories serve to demonstrate what happens when the blending of Christianity and culture go to an extreme. As a missiologist, we call this “syncretism”. Christianity in all cultures has a way of blending with culture over time- some of this can actually be good, a process we call “contextualization”. However, in some cases such an extreme blending... Read more
Sometimes life seems like a never ending cycle of hurts. Trust me, I actually get that. People we love wound us. People we trust betray us. Life goes wrong. Sometimes, it goes way, way wrong. We slowly become wounded and begin to walk away from whatever or whoever we perceive has hurt us. Walking away from a source of continual wounding isn’t a bad instinct if placed in the proper perspective. Too often , I fear, it becomes tempting to... Read more
1. No one can agree on what the rules are. I swear, we’ve probably watched eight rounds of curling during the Olympics and I still have no idea what the rules actually are. Are they trying to get all of their pucks (is that thing a puck?) on the bulls-eye? Are they trying to just land one in the middle? I have no idea, and at the end of every match I’m honestly confused at why the team who won,... Read more
The message of Jesus is radical: the key to "life" isn't through saving your life, but through giving it away. To enter into his Kingdom and the radical life he promises, we must rid ourselves of the two things that get in the way: a love affair with ourselves and with our possessions. Here are 5 practices to change your life: Read more
Is the phenomenon of rich American pastors a sign of God's blessing? In this post about my work in India and the association between American Christianity and wealth, I ask some hard questions about what it means to actually follow Jesus. Read more
Glenn Beck says God told him to shut up... which, sounds about right to me. Read more
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