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 »

The blog identifies itself as “commentary and reflection on ministry and culture in the twilight of Western Christendom.” And it is certainly that and more. I’ve been reading the Kruse Kronicle for a few months now after listening to Scot McKnight over at Jesus Creed continue to reference, sometimes link, the Kruse Kronicle at his blog.

So I began the journey. It soon became a consistent stop on my daily internet travels. Now I’m totally engaged. Everyday I look forward to navigating over to Scot McKnight’s Jesus Creed and Michael Kruse’s The Kruse Kroncle. And I have to say, of all the sites I visit, and there are many over a course of a week, these two men have my ear.

Files under Jesus Creed, Kruse Kronicle, Michael Kruse, Scot McKnight, influence | |

The older I get, the more I observe, the more I realize churches are adrift, not unlike the Titanic, heading blindly for the iceberg of the digital worldview.

Instead of thinking deeply about the changes necessary for navigating the churning waves of change, churches are busily engaged in treating the symptoms of low commitment–cutting edge sound systems, oversized monitors, studio stages, without dealing with the deeper realities of a changing cultural terrain.

The near future will soon confront church leaders with the challenge of measuring their willingness to unlearn, dismantle, and relearn. A tremendously difficult option for those locked into the prison of their own worldview.

Files under Church, Consumerism, attractional church, future church, low committment, shallow faith | |

Read my conversation with Alan Hirsch, the author of The Forgotten Ways [here]

I was shocked when I heard that Leonard Sweet had accepted the position left vacant at Grace Community Church with the firing of John MacArthur. Read the complete story [here]

Files under Alan Hirsch, April Fool, Consumerism, Culture, Evangelism, Interviews, Leonard Sweet, conventional church, conversation, emergent, mission, missional | 2 Comments | 2 Comments »

In Ron Sider’s new book The Scandal of Evangelical Politics: Why Are Christians Missing the Chance to Really Change the World? Sider gives the reader a short piece on how Ed Dobson lamented on the Moral Majority’s need for a coherent political philosophy (at the time Dobson was Vice President of the Moral Majority). This failure to reflect, Dobson felt, contributed to many of the movement’s failures.

Dobson says that “a ready, aim, fire” approach led to the thinking of an American favored nation status while neglecting what the Bible teaches about the poor, unfairly attacking enemies, and using manipulative fund-raising techniques.

The book argues that the “absence of any widely accepted, systematic reflection on politics leads to contradiction, confusion, ineffectiveness, even biblical unfaithfulness in political work.

Consider the inconsistencies with the regard to the sanctity of human life. Almost all evangelicals agree with the principle. But many evangelical pro-life movements focus largely on the question of abortion—as if, as one wag commented, life begins at conception and ends at birth. But what about the millions of children who die every year of starvation or the millions of adults killed annually by tobacco smoke? Are those not also sanctity of life issues?”

Sider points out that Jesse Helms was a prominent pro-life leader who happened to represent happened to represent the largest tobacco growing country in the United States—even supporting government subsidies for tobacco growers shipping America tobacco to poor nations under America’s Food for Peace Program.

Files under Ron Sider, Scripture, politics, republican | |

My good friend Larry Chouinard, who blogs at Spiritual Conversations, has made his most recent publication, The Way of the King, available as a free download. [download it here]

Files under Evangelism, Larry Chouinard, emergent, missional | |

Here are two sermons by Jeremiah Wright, Barak Obama’s pastor. The first captures the context of Rev. Wright’s GD America clip run first by Fox News and ABC.

The second captures the context of Rev. Wright’s most controversial comments – about “chickens coming home to roost “9/11 comments. “

 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvMbeVQj6Lw[/youtube]

 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOdlnzkeoyQ[/youtube]

Files under Barack Obama, Jeremiah Wright, Presidential Canidates, Racial Relations, politics | |