From CBE By Sarah Lindsay A few years ago, when my middle daughter was three, we were discussing her favorite preschool job: leading the lunchtime prayer. I said that maybe she could be a pastor, like our own pastor Todd, when she grew up. Her eyes lit up and she proclaimed: “Yes! I will be pastor Todd! And I will live in his house! And I will be Olivia’s daddy!” I got a good chuckle out of that, as did pastor Todd when... Read more

It's time to bury the word "evangelical." It's both past time to bury it but it's also time yet again to bury it. Read more

Molly Hensley-Clancy: It’s the first day of Prophecy Week at the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. Or, as students here like to call the place, Christian Hogwarts. The auditorium of the civic center in Redding, California, where first-year students have class, is so full of eager, neatly dressed young people that it’s initially impossible to find a seat. The roomful of some 1,200 students hums with expectant energy: People talk in clusters, clutching their books to their chests and stealing eager... Read more

Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. BCP Read more

Kris and I just watched the announcement of the Willow Creek Community Church succession plan. We all know that Bill Hybels has been the teaching pastor at Willow Creek for decades but time moves on and he has been setting up a plan beyond his leadership at Willow. Heather Larson will be the Lead Pastor. Steve Carter will be the Teaching Pastor. God bless them both, and Willow Creek. Read more

OUR DEEPEST DESIRES I met Greg Ganssle thirty-seven years ago. I was a senior in college and Greg was a young Campus Crusade for Christ (now CRU) staff member. We were on the North Myrtle Beach summer project. Greg was the kind and patient (!) discipler for eight of us guys. Greg has a long-standing interest in philosophy so he eventually got his PhD from Syracuse. He teaches at Talbot School of Theology. Greg writes both scholarly and popular books.... Read more

Now Where are those millennials moving? Wow! It’s no secret that young people are getting married and starting families later in life than their parents did. It is, however, a bit of a secret where they are choosing to settle down. Big cities and their big employers have always attracted young workers, and that’s still true. But a combination of factors — sky-high home prices chief among them — have sent Millennials across the country looking for alternatives. Unlikely places... Read more

By John Frye In the last post, I introduced Eugene H. Peterson’s book Reversed Thunder as it relates to evil. The post considered the church’s response to the recent Las Vegas massacre of 59 people and the wounding of over 500 more. It’s awkward to write “I introduced” the book because it was published in 1988. Many Jesus Creeders have read it, I suppose. Yet, I’ve heard little conversation about it among pastoral colleagues. Let me make my confession: Eugene Peterson... Read more

What are the big ideas at work in Greg Boyd’s monster volumes, The Crucifixion of the Warrior God? Boyd’s big ideas emerge from a singular moral problem in the pages of the Bible: the tension/contradiction between the warrior God of specific passages and the revelation of God himself in the cross of Christ. Thus, the cruciform God vs. the warrior God. Boyd’s entire project is rooted in this being a problem; for those who don’t think this is a problem,... Read more