According to Rex Miller most church leaders typically spend up to 50% of their time preparing for Sundays, 25% of their time in various staff and leadership meetings, and the remaining 25% putting out fires and dealing with dysfunctional members. Leaders have to meet with people by appointment, cover their agendas, take care of their checklists, and touch all bases. Relationships become a functional way to complete objectives. And if they can accomplish more than one thing at a time, then all the better.

taken from The Millennium Matrix

Files under anxiety, busyness, leadership | |

Files under love, service | |

Tony Jones started the wheels turning with his post “Pursuing Jesus’ Dream for the World.”

Tony makes a great point when he says “it is unfortunate that the church has changed its motto from ‘What is Jesus’ Dream for the World’ to the much more self-referential, ‘A Place to Grow in Christ and Serve the World.’”

 

Files under Church, Jesus | |

Being an editor for an online magazine affords me the pleasure of receiving more books than any one person could read and review in an expected time frame. But I remain hopeful that every book that quietly sit, jaggedly stacked in the corner next to my bookshelf will one day soon, be reviewed before becoming media for the historical archives.

The one book that caught my eye and seductively lured me in its direction was “Not the Religious Type: Confessions of a Turncoat Atheist.” I’m not familiar with Dave Schmelzer, a former playwriter and atheist, now pastor in the Vineyard heritage somewhere near Cambridge, Mass., but he has an interesting “no-bar, open style of writing.”

In one chapter headed “How M. Scott Peck Saved My Life” Schmelzer has some interesting analogies on the ‘deeply religious’ and the ‘not-so-religious’ who end up in therapy. He comments that often the deeply religious leave their religion after being helped while the not-so-religious find faith as a result of being helped. Schmelzer spends the remainder of this chapter unpacking his discovery. Interesting stuff.

In the not too distant future you’ll be able to read a complete review of this book at New Wineskins Magazine. Also in the May-June issue of New Wineskins (Politics and Faith) will be my conversation with Newt Gingrich.

Files under Interviews, book review, politics | |

Mike Cope, one of three senior editors emeritus at New Wineskins Magazine presents anecdotal evidence for the deep faith of Hillary Clinton. And while he’s at it, Mike gives sage advice for those who would get rowdy, loud, and excited during politico season. As Mike says,

“when vigorous political discourse turns into bashing of public figures, it perpetuates a great lie: that they are merely the ideologies and symbols attached to them. When a candidate’s ideology is mistaken for his or her personhood, it masks a crucial truth: that each person, no matter their political views, bears God’s image and matters deeply to him.”

Thanks for the be-good reminder Mike! You can read the complete post [here]

By chance or providence I happened to be on vacation when my wife and I visited the Pine Valley Church of Christ in Wilmington, NC. It just so happened that on that same day Mike Cope preached his inaugural sermon at his new church home. Mike couldn’t have been older than 25 years. He had a beautiful young family to support him in this newly accepted position at the Pine Valley Church. I’m sure there were the good times as well as the bad. Mike if you happen to stumble on this correct me where I’m wrong.

Files under Hillary Clinton, How to Live, Mike Cope, Political Correctness, Presidential Canidates, blogging, conventional church, creative, democrate, influence, politics, republican | |

Over at Jesus Manifesto.com Michael Cline writes an article every voter should read. Although not the main point of the article Mr. Cline makes an astute observation, of which the reader can easily overlook if not careful–Western Christianity’s one hundred year failure; cultural-driven exchanged for cultural relevance. 

Rather than express Christian revelation in a way that is specific and adequate to the social realities in which we live, as Jacques Ellul writes, the Church too often “looks for ways to adapt Christianity to the dominant intellectual and sociological trend.” As a result, we guarantee ourselves a “small place in the new social order.”

Read the article The New Christians Kool-Aid

Files under Barack Obama, Culture, attractional church, future church | 1 Comment | 1 Comment »

There are a couple of challenging reads I want to suggest to the readers out there. The first is a short 16 page download. You can get it for $1.00. Not bad.

Here’s a brief review: 

The line between American culture and Biblical conviction has been irrevocably blurred since the Pilgrims and Puritans made landfall on our shores. The sad fact of Christianity in the United States is that our theology has been more informed by the culture than the reverse. If anyone has any doubts, Fred puts them to rest using the example of our country’s preoccupation with alcohol consumption. When we have otherwise intelligent scholars trying to convince us that Jesus turned the water into the oxymoronic “non-alcoholic” or “non-intoxicating” wine, it is high time to acknowledge that our culture is driving our theology rather than our theology being based on sound Bible study. –Rick Chromey; Kentucky Christian University

Abstinence or Moderation? : Liberty or Law? [link to a dollar download]

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The second offering is a 116 page book that Jim Henderson of Off The Map called the “best missional book on the market.” It an easy read with lots of stories and one of the first books by an emergent that can claim to be more a construct than deconstruct. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. You can find a link to the book on the left side bar near the bottom of this page. Just start scrolling down…

 

Files under Culture, bible, book review, missional | |

Files under book review, brian mclaren | 1 Comment | 1 Comment »

We must ask why so few are willingly die to themselves in community? Why we so rarely journey from self-dependence through the valley of death to life in the Spirit in the presence of a connecting guide? Where are the spiritual leaders, the elders of God’s people? Where are the spiritual leaders, the shepherds of the flock? Where are the people who can listen well and guide us through our problems to the Father’s heart and regard it as their calling to do so? Whatever became of the idea that all believers are priest?

Our communities are filled with people desperate to unburden themselves in the presence of another, to be known at a level where the only antidote to disdain is grace, to sink beneath death’s dark waters while in the grip of a set of strong hands that promise to raise them up into newness of life.

In recent conversations, I’ve asked a number of Christ-followers if they had someone in their lives whose strength and wisdom encouraged them to make themselves fully known. Every last one of them answered the same way: “I’d give my right arm to have someone like that in my life. There’s so much going on inside me that I’d love to share, not to find answers necessarily but just so someone knew. But I have no one like that.”

Files under How to Live, Inspiration, discipleship, fear, influence, leadership | |

From time to time believers need to step outside of their confining worldview and listen to the worldview of others. There’s a lot we can learn from those we most often preached to but have rarely listened too. The story that follows is taken from the Friendly Atheist Blog run by Hemant Mehta, who in the near future will sit down with me to have a challenging conversation for New Wineskins Magazine.  

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First, the pastor, who can barely get a word in due to his interrupting congregation: When an atheist visits a Baptist church in Mississippi, it’s hard to try and stay objective when social cues are ignored by the congregation and the sermon is full of bigotry against those who are different.
 

The preacher got up to deliver his lesson, but before he got very far, a man stood up to tell everyone how much Jesus helped him with his life. This didn’t seemed planned. This man talked for a few minutes before he sat back down. The preacher spoke about half a sentence when a woman stood up and told everyone about how Jesus solves all our problems. She talked for a few minutes about how Jesus worked in her life and then sat down. I guess this preacher is use to constant interruptions.

And when he finally gets to speak?

To give you an idea of his preaching style, think of Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” hyped up on steroids.

Of course he talks about how everything is evil (being gay, killing babies, etc.) but what gets me is this part:

He wanted to bring the Bible and prayer back into our schools. He warned his congregation that if they tried to bring the Bible into schools, the government would oppose them, but do not worry: God will be on side of God, and God’s side always wins.

Ummm… the Bible is allowed in schools. So is prayer. As long as it’s not forced upon everyone. No one’s going to oppose you.

That’s what we call “tolerance.”

This pastor obviously wants none of that, though.

Did atheist Oliver get anything out of this experience?

[The pastor] was stereotypical of everything that non-believers see in Christians: they are loud, obnoxious, ignorant, and filled with prejudice and self-righteous attitudes. It is hard not to stereotype when I’m watching Christian fundamentalism in action.

I suspect things aren’t going to get much better as Oliver treks around MS.

But if you have suggestions for churches in the state that might be a bit more conducive for an atheist visitor, I’m sure they’d be appreciated.

Taken from the Friendly Atheist

 What can we learn from this story? Is there anything to learn?

Files under Baptist, atheism, atheist, worldview | 1 Comment | 1 Comment »