MSNBC’s Morning Joe with Joe Scarborough featured an interview with Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church and Newsweek’s John Meacham (who had just published an article entitled The End of Christian America). A good conversation. Enjoy.
Is “being missional” more than the latest church conference buzzword? Is this a passing fad or a necessary rediscover of an essential characteristic of the very definition of church? Dan Kimball offers some help in capturing what it means to become more missional: – Being missional means that the church sees itself as beingmissionaries, rather than … More VIDEO: What is the Missional Church?
What happens when 3 generations of Evangelical Christian leaders get together to discuss church and politics in the 21st century? These videos capture a lively and thoughtful conversation between Chuck Colson, Gregory Boyd and Shane Claiborne moderated by Krista Tippett of “Speaking of Faith” radio program. Check out some video clips below. The full program … More Evangelical Dialogue on Christianity & Politics
Mark Roberts posted A Brief History of Thanksgiving at his blog and I especially found George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789 inspiring: Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor–and … More George Washington’s “Thanksgiving Proclamation” (1789)
Yesterday I shared an alternative model of evangelism shaped by the interactions and approach of Jesus in the Gospels. I thought it might be helpful to offer a concrete example of this approach in action. As I was planting the Revolution ministry in Mound I was helped along by my daily interactions with teens … More Jesus-Shaped Evangelism in Practice
FROM THE DI ARCHIVES: Prior to my current ministry role I spent a few years living “missionally” in a smaller town community where God called me to use new and innovative means of reaching unchurched and ‘de-churched’ teens for Christ. Check out The Revolution. I wrote the following reflections while in the trenches trying to … More Jesus-Shaped Evangelism for the 21st Century
In my first review of this film I pointed out some of the underlying spiritual/psychological themes in the film: (1) the danger of letting a relationship take over one’s entire life, (2) turning a relationship into an idol which we cannot live without, (3) engaging in self-destructive behaviors (e.g., self-injury, suicide attempts) as a desperate … More MOVIE REVIEW: “Twilight: New Moon” – Part 2
“The Medievals conceived the world as a book written by God, the plot of which is given in God’s other book, the Bible. Today, however, the world is plotted by different narratives, either humanly authored (modernism) or authorless (postmodernism). Now the world writes itself; or better, it is writing itself…It is against this background—of the world … More QUOTABLES: Gerard Loughlin on God’s Story
This particular Friday night I was proudly wearing both my “good husband hat” and my “committed youth pastor hat” as I went to see the much anticipated “Twilight: New Moon” film on opening night. (Keri asked me to go to the midnight opener the previous night and I had to draw the line somewhere!) Gazillions … More MOVIE REVIEW: “Twilight: New Moon” – A Youth Pastor’s Perspective
QUESTION: Can I trust God if he does not possess exhaustive definite foreknowledge? Excerpt from Motivations for ascribing foreknowledge to God by GREGORY A. BOYD published in “Religious Studies” (Cambridge University Press 2009). Aside from exegetical objections, the single most frequent criticism raised against the open view in the polemical literature is that it undermines … More Boyd on God’s Foreknowledge & Intelligence
The “My Top 3” series is your chance to get to know some of my personal favorites. Today, on a lighter note, I share my favorite 3 bands. These are not necessarily my vote for the BEST bands of all time. I would have to place The Beatles, Led Zepellin, Elvis Presley and many others … More My Top 3: Rock & Roll Bands
This is by far one of the warmest, most concise, well-reasoned and articulate cases I’ve seen for the existence of God lately. Tim Keller visits Google’s Mountain View, CA, headquarters to discuss his book, “The Reason for God.” This event took place on March 5, 2008, as part of the Authors@Google series. His arguments … More Does God Exist? (Tim Keller)
NOTE: Please don’t the following too seriously. I’m just thinking (or joking) out loud again. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Yeah, well, if that’s what it means to be insane, then what do we call folks who do certain things religiously and … More Why do we Rake and Shovel?
I can’t believe I’ve never made this observation before. We all know Christianity and church life is all about COMMUNITY. Well, at least it has become the big buzz word for the last decade or two. The Sunday worship routine that had for so long become a spectator sport with the people on stage providing … More Christian Community: The Goal or Starting Point?
We Christians in the Christian blogosphere can easily isolate ourselves and our writing into a little club of associates who all speak our language and understand our biblical framework. This goes for Christians in general who only surround themselves with other Christians and pastors whose social interaction is almost exclusively with fellow believers. When … More An Interview: Some Personal Thoughts
Rob Bell is one of the most popular pastor-teachers in America today. He is best known for his Nooma short films used by churches everywhere. He was recently interviewed by YouthWorker Journal at a national conference to give us some of his thoughts on youth ministry today. Here’s the interview originally published on October 2, 2009 … More Rob Bell on Youth Ministry
What if we could follow Jesus on Twitter? This question is asked all the time and is worthy of a good conversation. I’m glad you can find innumerable articles with similar titles as mine. Would he give new revelation via Twitter or just quote his own Bible verses daily? One person was surprised and humored … More WWJT: What Would Jesus Tweet?
Greg Boyd is involved with some very deep and provocative research and writing at the moment (and always). He gives us a link to a recently published article entitled “Two ancient (and modern) motivations for ascribing exhaustive definite foreknowledge to God: A historic overview and critical assessment.” If the title is any indication I would … More BOOK PREVIEW: “Jesus Versus Jehovah” by Greg Boyd
The book of Romans doesn’t mess around. Paul is shooting straight and going to the heart of things. Our senior youth group is plowing through portions of Romans this fall and winter. We’re still bogged down in the swamp of chapter 1 and Paul’s description of the fallen human condition is growing darker verse by … More Sin & Monopoly (Rom 1:18-32)
I am currently teaching a 4-week class on the topic of Heaven with our high school students. What a fascinating and inexhaustible topic to explore! Among many questions that this raises is ‘What happens immediately upon death?’ Of course, Christians believe the soul lives on beyond the last heart beat and cessation of brain activity. … More D’Souza on Life After Death
Join the conversation on how to approach Jehovah’s Witnesses when they come to your door at Jesus Creed today. Scot McKnight’s Jesus Creed blog at Beliefnet.com is ranked the #6 most popular Christian blog, the #1 blog of the emerging church by Technorati and receives nearly 500,000 visitors per month. Thanks again, Scot.
Some will still protest, saying: “I tasted the morning coffee only to have it turn bitter in my mouth! I jumped up at the first breakfast call only to find stale cereal and sour milk waiting on the table! The sweet song of the morning bird was quickly drowned out by the loud ruckus of … More ALARM CLOCK 11: Everyday is a Fresh Start
USA TODAY.com News featured a story entitled How Stressed Are Kids? More Than We Think. I care deeply about the world today’s teens inhabit and the unique challenges they are facing. To the best of my knowledge and from my own personal observation, the world of teenagers has been changing over the last couple decades … More Teens and Stress
I read an article today about the things that teens today are most stressed about. I was rather surprised by the results and wanted to take my own poll to see if it matches the results of this finding. So, if you wouldn’t mind, please take a moment to weigh in on this poll if … More POLL: What stresses TEENS out most?
The debate over the legitimacy of virtual church vs. traditional church has heated up at Out Of Ur over the past couple weeks. (Dr. Mark Roberts has a series of posts as well.) I’ll be honest and admit that I have at times been too critical and skeptical of the “virtual church” movement. I see the … More Is ‘Virtual’ Church ‘Real’ Church?
