It was then that God began to change my life. I accompanied my roommate to the weekday service of the church we attended on Sundays, something I had never done before in all my years of faithful church attendance. There a preacher who I knew, the director of the Christian summer camp that I loved, told the story of Bartimaeus from Matthew 10. He recounted how Bartimaeus, though blind, cried out to Christ for His sight, imploring Christ to make... Read more

My life while in college was a strange mixture of genuine cognitive belief in the doctrines of the Bible, strong passion for girls and basketball, and a lukewarm heart for God. Yet though I could live a double-life in high school, sooner or later something had to give. It wasn’t that I fell headlong into lust and lasciviousness. The Lord kept me from all that. Yet though my sin was quieter, it was no less wicked. Through my freshman year,... Read more

I’ve been trying to post on thoughtful topics for a while now. That’s good, because it stretches me and elicits interesting discussion. In the background of everything I post is my faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Yet I don’t think I’ve shared my story of faith. I want to take a few days and do that. I hope it is interesting, encouraging, and if you’re not a Christian, challenging. My story of faith begins in the... Read more

So this is a bit of a more laid-back week for me, and with good reason. I’m taking a very difficult Hebrew class right now, and this week included some major assignments and quizzes. I’m out of the woods now. With that said, I’m taking this week to post a few “occasional” blogs instead of a series. I wanted to take a minute and highlight a rapper you probably haven’t heard of. His moniker is “Braille,” and he makes exceedingly... Read more

We’re missing boldness from our Christianity. Christianity is not weak and wimpy. As soldiers of a heavenly kingdom, we do violence against forces of darkness each and every day. Our program of violence is carried out in numerous ways. Sharing the gospel brings us into direct conflict with the enemy as we, by proclamation of the truth, speak words that threaten to shatter Satan’s hold over hearts. Responding to crisis and challenge in a distinctly Christian way pushes back the... Read more

No, not the kind you live in, silly, the kind you watch on your laptop. http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/300/trailer1/large.html This is the trailer to the upcoming movie, “300,” an adaptation of the story of the battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Spartans stood against thousands of Persians many centuries ago. For those who like military history (and I eat it up), it is one of the most heroic and incredible battles of all time. I am extremely excited to see this being brought to... Read more

This has been a great discussion, and I’m thankful to everyone who wrote thoughtful comments. Helpful stuff. I want to say a quick word about the idea that I’m working against any one type of church. I’m not addressing any one church or even a group of churches. I’m addressing all kinds of churches from all kinds of denominations and associations. As I noted last week, the Southern Baptists do not have everything right, the Presbyterians do not, the Episcopalians... Read more

Thanks to all who recently commented on the contextualization discussion. Glad to know someone’s out there. (If a blog is posted in the forest and noone views it, is it still a blog? Hmmm. Ponder that one for a while.) I’ll summarize what Rusty, a classmate and thoughtful dude, said: Owen, yeah, we get it, contextualize!–but how does this play out in a pluralistic culture that seems to defy individualized targeting? A great question, and a fair one at that.... Read more

When it comes down to it, Scripture and its principles are the foundation for all our thinking on the church. How refreshing that Scripture supports wholeheartedly the idea of contextualization. Here are some arguments: 1) Paul circumcising Timothy in order to contextualize his witness to the Jews (Acts 16).2) Paul adjusting his speech before the learned folks at Mars Hill (Acts 17).3) The gospel narratives being written in different styles with different content (The gospels) (haha).4) Paul teaching that he... Read more

Just to show you I do read the comments on this blog, I want to use a comment left today to continue the discussion on church contextualization, the idea that churches tailor themselves to a certain region or culture. Here’s what KC said (edited a bit): “We would never want, in the name of evangelism, to pursue the following as the ideal: spearate congregations for white over 60, black over 60, middle-aged upper middle class, middle-aged lower middle class, divided... Read more