I spent the better part of this week at the bi-annual conference of the International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry. My purpose there, as well as being a member of that organization, was to present a paper as a part of the Faithful Practices Project. (FPP is a Lilly Endowment-funded grant to the Christian Education department of PTS, and it’s funding my dissertation research into eight emerging churches.) More on that paper later. The IASYM is a group... Read more

Out to dinner last night with a big group here in London (here for the International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry), when Jonny Baker and his end of the table (Will Penner and Jay and Jen Howver of Youth Specialties and Mike King of YouthFront) started laughing hysterically after I ordered dessert. [Background: Frangelico is an Italian hazelnut liquour, and it’s highly yummy.] What I said to the waiter: “I’d like the tiramisu, an espresso, and a Frangelico.”... Read more

For those of you in the Central Jersey Emergent Cohort, please use the comment section on this post to chime in regarding these questions/comments. After a week or so, we’ll see if a consensus builds about how to move forward. 1) The Content: Do you want to keep meeting? Does it have value to you? What are the things you’d like to see us discuss? Dr. Guder came to our first meeting, and that shows a unique opportunity we have... Read more

Scott’s a blogger!!! Read more

There’s been some good stuff in the comment section of the last post. If you will allow me to temporarily leave the subject of the Trinity and venture into the land of theological method, I have questions for a couple of you: Scott: What, exactly, is orthodoxy? In other words, how do you define or determine that in an age where truly ecumenical church councils are no longer realistic? I have previously proposed the “authority of interpretive communities,” a la... Read more

Scott Collins-Jones, “You are in more dire need of a blog than any white man in history.” (Movie quote, anyone?) Since Scott, a funny, smart, opinionated guy who needs a blog doesn’t have one yet, he emailed me to ask how I can not think that someone who doesn’t believe in the Trinity is not unorthodox. Well, not coincidentally, Doug and I spent a long time talking about this the other night, sitting in his van in my driveway after... Read more

So I was out today, doing my last minute shopping at Southdale Mall. It was jammed with people. When I saw a young, white woman plainly dressed with a head covering on, I thought to myself, “How ironic that an Amish (or Hutterite or similar old order Anabaptist) would be here today. Strange that they shun most modern conveniences and yet shop on one of the busiest days of the year. I thought they didn’t celebrate Christmas and Easter. Don’t... Read more

I have the high honor of winning a major blog award here. It’s awarded by EL MOL, one of my life-heroes. However, in response to that award, I want to write this, the one and only self-referential post you’ll ever see on this blog. Here are some things about this blog: – There are no pictures because I don’t have the time for that, nor do I think they would elucidate any of the kind of things I have to... Read more

Worship Leader Magazine asked me to write a short sidebar for a lengthy upcoming piece by Chuck Smith, Jr. on Emergent. Here are their three questions and my three answers: What is emergent? Emergent is a fairly loose gathering of pastors, artists, missionaries, church planters, songwriters, bloggers and others who are engaged in a quiet revolution within the church. Disaffected with the reified structures and theologies of both the Protestant “Left” and “Right,” a dozen of us began meeting together... Read more

OK, I’ll be honest. I’m tired of dealing with this authority question for now. I will, however, look at it from one more angle, and then put it to bed. The persistent question in the comments of the previous posts on this subject has been regarding authority. In fact, I saw this coming, and hence the title of the series: “Without Authority.” That’s not just a postmodern word play. I am actually giving a nod to the fact that postmodern... Read more