“Non-discipleship is the elephant in the church. It is not the much discussed moral failures, financial abuses, or the amazing general similarity between Christians and non-Christians. These are only effects of the underlying problem…It is now understood to be a part of the “good news” that one does not have to be a life student of Jesus in order to be a Christian and receive forgiveness of sins. This gives a precise meaning to “cheap grace” though it would be better... Read more
Maybe you saw this article by Michael Gerson last week in The Washington Post. It’s about Donald Trump’s upcoming meeting with 500 Evangelical Christian leaders later this month, and the promises that Trump is making to nominate conservative Supreme Court Justices in exchange for their support and turning a blind eye to the fact that he’s, well you know, Donald Trump. Gerson clearly has no sympathy toward this meeting even happening, and makes some pretty astute theological observations about what is... Read more
So a couple of weeks ago, I started a Friday series called “Church Work” to talk about all the joys and challenges of ministry, and to talk about the practical side of working or volunteering in a local church. But I thought it’s only fair that I let you know something right up front about this particular series, especially because it overlaps with what I hope to actually do here. So here goes: This post will be on the internet on Friday, but I won’t. I won’t... Read more
I’d like to introduce you today to one of my favorite people in the world: Randy Harris, Randy is a professor at ACU, a philosopher, preacher and he happens to be one of my good friends and spiritual director. This video is from the annual Pepperdine Bible Lectureship. It’s a sermon from just a few weeks ago on that famous passage in Mark 8. For those of you who are outside of the tribe that I come from (Churches of Christ)... Read more
So I’d like to start a short series today that will run for a few days on how the Christian faith forms the people of God when it comes to things like living in an election year. I’m from Churches of Christ, and I think one of the great strengths of the branch of Christianity I grew up is in it’s strong Anabaptist roots. Because Churches of Christ were somewhat sectarian for so long, we didn’t get mixed up in some stuff that a lot... Read more
“I think everyone should get rich and famous and do everything that they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.’ -Jim Carrey “As we bow to the golden statue called Oscar… joining in rituals of exaltation, and reading our sacred gossip columns…[we see from the stories] The desire for some kind of redemption pulses through human life.” -S. Brent Plate For the past few weeks, I’ve been writing some thoughts about the fascinating story of what... Read more
This past week, I sat down with my frenemy Luke Norsworthy to do our monthly wrap up of his podcast from the month of May. Despite his appearance, Luke is a great interviewer and I highly recommend subscribing to his podcast. He is the Oprah of Churches of Christ and has interviewed just about every author I’ve ever read. This month we talked about his interviews with Paul Wallace and his new book “The Stars Beneath Us” and the epic podcast/hipster speak-easy that Luke co-hosted with Tripp Fuller feat. N.T.... Read more
Getting a paycheck for doing that thing you love may actually ruin it. -Rob Bell There’s a story in 1st Kings 22 about a King Ahaz. He’s wanting to go to war and so he does what any king would do in that day. He gathers the prophets. He wants to know if he can win this fight, and they all say Yes. Then one person notices that not all the prophets are there. A prophet named Micaiah wasn’t in... Read more
I don’t know if you’ve seen this video before or not, but if you haven’t seen it, please drop whatever you’re doing and watch it. It’s a short film that documents the unlikely friendship of Eugene Peterson (translator of the Message) and U2’s frontman Bono. It’s amazing. Peterson and Bono have so little in common (at one point Peterson refers to “mesh pits” at Rock n’ Roll concerts) but what they do have in common is powerful. Here’s some of... Read more
“Spiritual Renewal will only happen when local congregations renounce an introverted concern for their own life, and recognize that they exist for those who are not members. As a sign, an instrument and foretaste of God’s redeeming grace for the whole life of society.” -Leslie Newbigin Read more
Jonathan Storment
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