This comes from our friends at the Humane Society Faith Outreach! With St. Francis Day coming, they have organized a couple of opportunities for church leaders to get plugged into. 1) Resouce St. Francis Day in a Box is a great resource for church leaders. Only costs $15… and believe me, you get way more than you pay for! My box was loaded with good resources on faith and animals. 2) Worship Song “Contest” Upload your video performance of... Read more
This is from Sherman Cox‘s article “Are you a preacher or motivational Speaker?” “Some preaching that is considered great by many is nothing more than a motivational speech. It might be true, it might even be helpful. It may help you succeed at work. But too often all one has done is changed the title from the latest pop-psychologist’s seminar from “how to succeed” to “how to fulfill God’s purpose” where God’s purpose is defined as “succeeding in this life.”... Read more
In Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness, Joshua Wolf Shenk mentions an aspect of Abraham Lincoln’s childhood which I recognized in my own early development, an innate sensitivity. Shenk adds that this sensitivity extended beyond the realm of solely human interest: He also took up a popular cause among sensitive people, the welfare of animals. Some boys found it fun to set turtles on fire or throw them against trees. “Lincoln would Chide us –... Read more
Right now, in the US, many of us wrestle with the Evangelical movement we grew up in. There are a lot of reasons for that. Our questions are theological, as we struggle with the atonement, the Kingdom of God, or Hell. We ask sociological questions about the role of women, LGBTQs, social media and politics. And philosophical and generational issues arise regularly. We’re in this exciting moment of turmoil right now, and we can realize we make real differences. For... Read more
Over the past couple of years, I’ve been blessed by the ministry of the Ooze (founded by Spencer Burke). This year, their prolific conference called Soularize will be in San Diego (October 18-20). And, this week they are running a huge discount for tickets. The price per ticket has been chopped by $50 so each ticket purchased before September 18th will only cost $199! I’m also told that the hotel is reasonably priced. To get more info about this great... Read more
In June, my pastoral residency came to an end. For the past two years, my pastoral license found its validity in the denomination of that church. But upon leaving, my license expired. Certainly there are worst things in life, but my issue was that I had already committed to two weddings! I began to panic when the legal dots connected. But then the rescue I needed came forth: the Internet. The World Wide Web fixes all fixable situations when a... Read more
This week I want to invite you to share something. Share about 9/11. Share about how your church handled the issue. Was it too nationalistic? Did the cross and the sword seem too close together? Maybe your church had a “peace focus.” What was that like? Share about your personal thoughts on peace and justice in a world of terrorism. If you haven’t read my thoughts on this, here are my two articles on the subject: God’s Middle Finger –... Read more
Lupe Fiasco is one of my favorite hip hop artists. This song reflects many of my values when it comes to issue of peace (minus a short ninja scene 🙂 ). He is not a Christian (as I think he might be a peaceful Muslim), but certainly reflects some of my values. WARNING: *Song contains a couple of cuss words… not many, but just wanted to warn sensitive ears. Peace. Read more
So… I finally got a bike. I’ve wanted one for about 3 years now. I even bought my wife a bike, hoping that she’d feel obligated to get me one in return… and yes, 3 years later my plan worked (OK, it was really a financial decision on both our parts). As someone who is new to the commuter world, this video from Google gave me some hope. Also, there’s a free app on iPhones called: Bike Nav that’s helpful!... Read more
I shouldn’t be surprised at how adverse we evangelicals are to thinking about death, but I have to admit that I am. Here are five major reasons I think evangelicals don’t like confronting it in an honest manner: For one, we love to spiritualize everything, so that we’re more comfortable and confident in a world we can’t see than the one we live in at present. We put more thought, more energy and more “action” into the spiritual than we... Read more
The Pangea Blog
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In