Welcome to the Salacious 16 round where the epic matchups get even epic-er! That’s a word, right? Anyway, keep these (slightly updated) guidelines for voting in mind during the Salacious 16 round…. 1) There are no rules for voting. Vote for whomever you like for whatever reason you like. It’s totally up to you. 2) Voting is unlimited. After voting click “Return to Poll” and you can vote again. However, if last year is any indication, Polldaddy (which runs the polling widget) will force you... Read more

After over 22,000 votes were cast the 1st round of American Jesus Madness 2013 is over and the results are in!! We had some close matchups and some total blowouts. Check out the results below and get ready to vote for the Salacious 16 round started TODAY @ 9AM EST!! 1ST ROUND RESULTS Tim Tebow – 55%        Ray Lewis – 45% #RickWarrenTips – 59%        Mark Driscoll Tweets – 41% Scot McKnight – 82%  ... Read more

Let the tournament begin! Just a few reminders…. 1) There are no rules for voting. Vote for whomever you like for whatever reason you like. It’s totally up to you. 2) Voting is unlimited. After voting click “Return to Poll” and you can vote again. However, if last year is any indication, Polldaddy (which runs the polling widget) will force you to “take a break” for about 10 minutes (I think) if you vote a TON of times in a row.... Read more

American Jesus Madness officially kicks off tomorrow, but before it does I wanted to take a moment to talk about holiness. Because nothing goes together better than an absurd imaginary tournament and holiness, right? Ok, maybe not, but bare with me because I have a bit of good news to share with you. As many of you already know, I signed a book deal with CLC Publications last fall. Now, I’m excited to announce that I finally have a title and... Read more

As promised, here are the breakdowns of the matchups for the 1st round of American Jesus Madness. Consider them a guide to voting or just disregard them all together of vote however the heck you want. But before I give my analysis, there’s a couple of housekeeping things I wanted to mention. First, if you haven’t downloaded the bracket you really need to. Filling out a bracket is half the fun. Once you’ve read through the matchup breakdown use that accumulated... Read more

It’s here!! Presenting the official 2013 American Jesus Madness bracket!! A big word thanks to everyone who took the time to make nominations for the bracket! I really appreciate it. Just in case you’re brand new to this, American Jesus Madness is my spin on March Madness (which begins next week), but instead of basketball teams, I use pop Christian culture. Obviously these people and things can’t “play” each other, so the battles are settled by voting. Starting on Tuesday you’ll determine the winners... Read more

As tricky as it is to be a Biblical fundamentalist when it comes to your wardrobe, things get even trickier when you start talking about where we all came from. No, I’m not talking about the birds and the bees. Even fundamentalists agree on that point. I think. I hope. I’ve honestly never had a sex talk with a fundie and don’t plan on doing so anytime soon. I’m talking about creation, specifically those two pesky chapters at the beginning... Read more

Right before John the Baptist became John the Headless, the writer of Mark records that Jesus gathered “the Twelve” together and sent them out with these instructions, “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the... Read more

If you’re a Christian with a blog, or just an opinion in general, and you have the audacity to critique other Christians, particularly prominent Christian leaders, you will inevitably find yourself under attack by fellow Christians accusing you of “stirring up disunity” in the church. The thought being that if “the world” sees the church display any hint of discord, disagreement, or imperfection, that would be somehow mean the total collapse of the church’s ability to do evangelism or worse,... Read more

As promised, here’s the pertinent info for the upcoming American Jesus Madness 2013 tournament. Just like last year, I want to hear from you about who or what should be in the tournament. What are the requirements? Not much. The only requirement is that the person, place, or thing must have played some sort of role in pop Christian culture during the past year. It can be a pastor, a celebrity, a tortilla with Jesus’ face on it, the apocalypse, whatever.... Read more