War is hell. It’s a euphemism, I know, but it also happens to be true. And, unlike so many previous generations, those of us who were born in the 1960s have no idea what it’s like. The closest I ever came to war was a couple of rumors of the draft that floated around my high school in 1986. Each time, the rumor was linked to some U.S. military operation, and each time it lasted about an hour before some... Read more

Hmm… The title bar doesn’t work on Blogger this morning. I’m off to ICRS, the den of thieves for Christian publishers and retailers. From there (Atlanta), I fly to La Guardia for a couple days of church consulting. We had a great 4th, with our annual tradition of marching in the Edina Parade (this year with the Cub Scouts), then the Sousa band and fireworks at the city park later that night. My bro was in town from Oregon, so... Read more

I preached at the church of my dear friend, Shane Hipps, a few weeks back. Here’s the sermon. Read more

Last winter, I was one of the plenary speakers at the 2007 Wheaton Theology Conference. I was asked to present the emergent perspective on the relationship between the corpus of patristic literature (the “Church Fathers” and the early councils) and the present church. I gave it the old college try, and was greeted with mixed reviews. Some reported their own ambivalence and the feelings of “disaster” among the theological intelligentsia. I was even emailed by one MDiv student that his... Read more

From The Simple Way 6/20/07 12:30PM This morning, a 7-alarm fire consumed an abandoned warehouse in our Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia. The Simple Way Community Center at 3200 Potter Street was destroyed as well as at least eight of our neighbors’ homes. Over 100 people were evacuated from their homes, and 400 families are currently without power. Despite this developing tragedy, we are incredibly thankful to share that all of our community members and every one of our neighbors is... Read more

I’ve just started two books. One of them is George Marsden’s magisterial, Jonathan Edwards: A Life. I’m particularly interested in Edwards because, unlike Francis, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, et al, Edwards’s revival did not reify into an “-ism.” In other words, there is no Edwardsism. There is no First Edwardsian Church of Minneapolis. Why is that? It’s that question I seek to answer, for I hope and pray that there is never an Emergentism. (Some will say that Driscoll/Piper/Mahaney represent the... Read more

…on the connection between iPhone and church (specifically, the Roman Catholic Church). People want something that looks forward, not backward, in their technology and their church. Check it out. HT: Andrew Sullivan Read more

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(This is, quite honestly, an auspicious way for me to reenter the blogosphere) On April 14, just weeks before he died, Jerry Falwell preached a sermon entitled “What’s Wrong with the Emergent Church?” I’m especially interested because he mentions me by name. You can listen to the sermon here (it’s also available on iTunes) [LINK REMOVED], and you can see his notes here [LINK REMOVED, new link here] I suggest you listen as you look over the notes, since he... Read more

The book is done, revisions and all. Thank God. Read more