As stated in our introductory post, my friend Jeff Cook and I are going to have a long dialogue/debate about the New Testament and homosexuality over the next few weeks. In this opening post, Jeff will lay out his position regarding the New Testament prohibitions of same-sex relations. A few years back, a Pew Research poll discovered 79% of white evangelicals thought torturing a suspected terrorist to gain information could be justified while only 30% thought monogamous gay sex... Read more
What we debate is becoming less important in Christian circles than how we debate. To the ears of many, both in the church and out, Christians have collectively become clanging cymbals. We are easily dismissed because we often rip our own kin apart for trivial reasons. Blogs and microphones have become tools of warfare as we beat others down over disputable matters. There’s a place for passionate disagreement. But there’s never a place for dehumanizing rhetoric, straw man arguments, or... Read more
In my last post, I shared about the work that God has been doing in the leper colony of Khokana outside Kathmandu. For this post, I want to take us back to the heart of Kathmandu, to the banks of the Bagmati river where thousands of people eek out an existence—and that’s all it really is—in a slum filled with make-shift houses, muddy roads, and a wide array of stray animals infected by God knows how many diseases. It all... Read more
Our flight to Nepal never ended. We were in the air for 8 years and 3 months—or so it seemed. I took off from Boise at 7:10am on Wednesday morning, met the guys in LAX at noon, and landed in Kathmandu sometime on Friday still buzzing from jet lag and the excessive amounts of coffee prescribed to fight against it. Or was it Saturday? All I know is that I got a whole lot of reading and writing done, and probably... Read more
As I said in my previous blog, I’m currently touching down in Kathmandu right now, visiting the leaders and ministries I’m involved with through Touch Nepal. I’m going to give some updates from my trip, but I wanted to first point you to some resources about Touch Nepal that explain what we do. First, here’s a blog I wrote a while back about supporting indigenous ministries. It explains the heart behind Touch Nepal. Here’s a video that captures some observations... Read more
Over the last three posts, I’ve discussed some of the ways in which short-term mission (STM) trips could be done better. We’ve looked at the potential dangers of construction projects, the deceptiveness of self-perception, and the many problems surrounding the “missions for me” mentality. And when this post gets published, I’ll be on a 35 hour plane ride to Nepal for an 8 day mission trip. Therefore, while I remain critical of the way STMs are often done, I do... Read more
In the previous post, we looked at the problems of having a “Missions for Me” mentality when we venture overseas or across the border. In this post, I want to address the question of whether our short-term trips (STM) do much long-term good—or long-term harm. The answer, of course, is they can potentially do both. But we cannot say that STM accomplishes much good based on our self-perception of such trips. Self-perception can be deceitful. The benefits that we perceive may... Read more
In my previous post, I set the stage for why we need to rethink how we do short-term mission (STM) trips. In this post, I want to focus specifically on the “Missions for Me” mentality that’s probably the number one reason why people go on an STM. That is, if I go on this trip, I will come back with more faith, more conviction, and a greater desire to serve Jesus with all my being. And perhaps I’ll end up... Read more
In less than a week, I’ll be leaving for Nepal, which will be my third “mission trip” to this country. Every year, some buddies and I, who started a ministry called Touch Nepal, head to this impoverished country to help support indigenous pastors. As I recently told a friend of mine, Touch Nepal is probably my favorite ministry I’ve ever been involved in. I’ve also been troubled over the years, however, at the negative consequences that American short-term mission trips... Read more
The third annual Ecclesia and Ethics conference will be taking place over the next two weekends (March 14th and 21st) and this year’s theme is going to be a good one—“Human Sexuality and the Church.” Any conference with the words “sex” and “church” in its title is bound to gain some attendees. And here’s the best thing about this conference: you don’t need to leave your living room or your PJ’s to attend. That’s right. The entire conference can be... Read more
Theology in the Raw
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