It seems that the “Church” of Scientology has jumped on the marketing language of the emerging church movement if their Google Ad Words campaign (on my blog feed!) is any indication. We have definitely jumped the shark. HT: Simon Willer (aka, Cheese Danish). Read more
“It’s a clean sweep for the liberal agenda in the Episcopal Church,” said David Virtue, editor of VirtueOnline.org, a conservative Web site. “The orthodox are finished.” So begins the NYTimes article on the annual cluster meeting known as the Episcopal Church General Convention. (Too harsh, you say? Well, here’s how the Episcopal Church describes its own General Convention: Resolutions proposed for discussion at convention are referred to legislative committees, which consider, amalgamate and perfect them before presenting them on the... Read more
An interview with me on the issue of gays and the church just went live on the new interfaith website, Patheos. Q: In a now famous post, you came to the conclusion that GLBTQ folks can “live lives in accord with biblical Christianity” and that their monogamy can and should be sanctioned by church and state. Do you think this has given critics of the emerging church movement another arrow in their sling? A: Ha! “Famous” may be overstating it!... Read more
Probably the most anticipated element of Cornerstone that I was involved with was a panel discussion entitled, “Gay Rights or Wrongs,” which was a conversation about how the church should approach the issue of GLBT persons. (I wrote about other aspects of Cornerstone last week.) This was an exceptional moment in the 26-year history of Cornerstone since they had never before had a pro-GLBT-inclusion advocate as a speaker. In fact, as I noted last week, even as recently as five... Read more
Today and tomorrow only (July 14th and 15th): TODAY ONLY Receive a copy of Ask, Seek, Knock: Prayers to Change Your Life for only $5 (plus free shipping)! Visit www.navpress.com and use the promo code H20E2M3X6 at checkout. Ask, Seek, Knock journeys through the prayers of the Bible and the history of the church and shows how you can use these prayers as your own. Read more
Believe it or not, I do have an opinion on the matter. But you’ll have to read Jason Boyett’s piece on The Daily Beast to find out what it is. Read more
I didn’t see much music while at Cornerstone last week. Occasionally I could hear, or feel, the thumping of a bass while I was giving a talk. Someone told me that there were about 500 bands there, which is an amazing number, to be sure. So it’s probably a shame that I didn’t see more than I did. But, the fact is, I have a strong aversion to Christian music in general, so I didn’t have a great interest to... Read more
My primary role at Cornerstone was co-presenting a three-part seminar with Phyllis Tickle, long-time friend and author of many books. We did a dog-and-pony show on the emergent/-ing/-ence movement that we’ve done before. IMHO, we work pretty well together, due to the fact that we’re pretty much in accord, but we do disagree on enough things to make it interesting to those gathered. (more…) Read more
For the rest of the week, I’m going to look back on my experience of the legendary Cornerstone Festival. What many are going to want to hear are my thoughts on the panel on which I sat which dealt with the issues of GLBT persons in the church. That’s coming, for sure, but I’m going to sleep on it a couple more days. In the meantime, iMonk, who moderated that panel, has posted about it. (more…) Read more
All I had today at Cstone was the second of a three-part series with Phyllis Tickle. We had a great and engaged crowd, and it seems that people are intrigued by the emergence of Christianity. For those of you who are Facebook friendly, Billy Reeder has put up a picture of our session yesterday. Yesterday, I used the story of the man who proclaims to Jesus, “I believe! Help me overcome my unbelief,” as the entree into a conversation about... Read more
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