I’ll be honest, my post “I Don’t Believe in Demons” led to the single biggest day of traffic on this blog since I left Beliefnet. It’s intriguing to me that so many people are so interested in this topic — more even than in issues of sexuality in the church, which is always a traffic generator. There were a lot of gratifying comments under that post from thoughtful folks who said that they pretty much agree with me, but they’d... Read more
Well, that’s the only conclusion I can come to, since he doesn’t believe that girls and boys should be allowed to wrestle one another in the high school tournament, but he doesn’t seem to object when boys wrestle against one another. A homeschooled boy withdrew from the Iowa State Wrestling Tournament rather than face a girl in a match. To be fair, the statement released by the young man is very congratulatory to the two girls who made the state... Read more
Today, Doug and I launched the Social Phonics News, a monthly email newsletter to keep you informed about the latest tips and trends in social media, especially as it impacts churches, ministries, and non-profit organizations. You can read the whole thing HERE, and you can subscribe HERE. And, did you know that Doug and I blog there as well? Well, you’d better check that out — even subscribe to that feed! Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Social Phonics... Read more
I’m pretty excited about the D.Min. at Fuller Seminary that I’ll be teaching starting this June, not long after completing my own “terminal degree.” (That’s a telling phrase!) I know that several readers of this blog have already applied to Fuller to join the cohort, and I’m hoping that a few more will. Here are some of the reasons that this D.Min. is unique: Those of us in the cohort will, I am quite sure, develop friendships that will last... Read more
Aw, shucks, Nadia Bolz-Weber is all grown up. She’s got her own website and everything. Nadia Bolz-Weber is the founding pastor of House for All Sinners and Saints, an ELCA mission church in Denver, Colorado. She’s a leading voice in the emerging church movement and her writing can be found in The Christian Century and Jim Wallis’ God’s Politics blog. She is author of Salvation on the Small Screen? 24 Hours of Christian Television (Seabury 2008) and the Sarcastic Lutheran... Read more
If you don’t subscribe to the online mag Patrol, you should, because you’ll get to read smart, spicy posts like this one from Jonathan Fitzgerald on same sex marriage: I’m fine with being proven wrong on this, and the last thing I’m trying to do is prooftext with the Bible. I really don’t believe that’s the way we are intended to read it. A different approach, then, is to look at the spirit of the Gospel, to look at its... Read more
I love being a part-time member of the creative team at sparkhouse in Minneapolis. We’ve done some great stuff, like Doug Pagitt’s latest book and Craig Goodwin’s forthcoming book. Now, as a sequel to re:form confirmation comes re:form traditions, a new video-based program that explores the Lutheran, Methodist, and Reformed traditions with all of the spit and vinegar of sparkhouse. Check out this video, and see if you aren’t ready to line up at midnight for the premiere order it... Read more
That’s what I often hear from people when I’m introduced as a Minnesotan. And on mornings like today, when my car dashboard read -10 degrees, I can see where they’re coming from. Commitment to a place is a difficult thing to articulate, especially in a culture which seems to valorize moving. As I wrote last May, when you say that you’re going to spend your adult life in the same town in which you were reared, people often think this... Read more
As I wrote a couple weeks ago, I had an essay published in Immerse Journal on youth ministry and practical theology. One pretty cool feature at Immerse is an online follow-up to journal articles called “Going Deeper.” Dan Haugh, who blogs at Emerging Youth, has written in response to my essay. Here’s a selection: After a few years of actually doing youth ministry, I discovered firsthand the truth of Tony’s statement, “Life and ministry are rarely, if ever, systematic, thorough,... Read more
My dissertation, like any, uses a lot of resources (390 footnotes, and counting) and tries to do a lot of things. But it is primarily a proposal for a radically egalitarian ecclesiology, particularly reliant upon the theology of Jürgen Moltmann, and particularly possible in the still-young emerging church movement. The practice of the Lord’s Supper is central to many emerging churches, as it is to many mainline, liturgical churches. But, as with most traditional Christian practices, emerging church congregations have... Read more
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