Scranton Community Church's Bold Choice

"This past Sunday Scranton Community Church held its final weekend service. After struggling for years to balance the demand of producing creative, innovative, culturally relevant weekend services with the demands of putting on and attending as many creative, innovative, culturally relevant church conferences possible, Pastor Dwight Schrute made the decision to pull the plug. "Over the past few months we've been pairing down our ministries to focus on what we do best. We eliminated Women's Minsitry, Men's Ministry and all age specific ministries; the next logical step was to eliminate the weekend service. "

- the entire news release from geoff surratt

resources for writers

justin taylor posted links to a number of good books for writers. I particular recommend Zinsser's book, which I'm working through now.

shari also mentions Writers' Market, which I recently found very helpful when I was trying to figure out how much to charge for a freelance project on which I was working.

Churches and Rescue Missions

Leadership Network's Advance ran a piece I had put together on how some churches are now working in the area of traditional Rescue Mission work and partnering with Rescue Missions.

Movie Recommendation: Happy Feet

Friday nights are usually "Family Movie Night" @ the Shields' house - usually DVDs. Last night, Beth and I thought we'd surprise Michaela (10), Skye (8), and Alia (6) and take them to see Happy Feet. It was @ highly rated on Rotten Tomatoes and looked interesting enough to fork out the $45 an Fandango for the five of us to see it in a theatre.

It was amazing.

The scenery animation was dazzlingly beautiful. The creative score was wonderful. I hate musicals. If you had told me there was as much singing as there was, I would not have wanted to go; but the modern score of contemporary music was fantastic. Robin Williams was hilarious.

It had a strong message of the importance of being good stewards of our environment.

It had a strong message of the value of our individual giftedness and the acceptance of others.

We'll buy this one when it comes out on DVD and I highly recommend it.

thank you to anthony smith

...and others for engaging in conversation around the "don't we care about those who don't know Jesus?" post. It took a while for conversation to start, so I was growing concerned that no one would be concerned enough to respond to my post that few seemed concerned!

I'd love to see others chime in if they've interest.

- anthony smith - musings of a postmodern negro

Mark Driscoll Thanks His Critics

"What I did not mean to communicate was anything regarding the Haggards, particularly Mrs. Haggard. She is not to blame for the sin of her husband.

...

Lastly, I want to thank my critics, especially the most vocal. They have helped me to understand that more than just pastors are following what I am saying. Subsequently, they are helping me to learn how to more clearly articulate what I am trying to communicate. In that way, they have been of great assistance to me as I seek to pastor most effectively for Jesus. I have waited some time to post this clarification because in times past I have gotten angry and responded with a tone that was defensive, prideful, and not helpful. I am learning that critics in some ways are also friends because there is often some truth in what they are pointing out. Subsequently, God is using my critics to teach me and is asking me to be willing to listen."

Mark Driscoll thanks his critics for their response to this post.

Thanks, Mark.

working with the down and out

Leadership Network just published a piece I did on churches and rescue missions. through the research I did on this article, I found some churches doing some amazing stuff in this ministry space.

the return of rob schlapfer?

maybe! stay tuned.

mark driscoll and his controversial remarks about pastors wives

andrew jones does one of his great around-the-rooms ab the recent controversy surrounding mark driscoll.

our longing for jesus - out longing for heaven

A friend has asked me to mentor him in his theological education and spiritual formation. This morning we met and discussed two of Wayne Grudem's chapters on eschatology in his fine Systematic Theology.

Grudem writes about the Christian longing for Jesus' return:

"John's response at the end of Revelation should characterize Christian's hearts in all ages: 'Amen. Come Lord Jesus!' (Rev 22:20). True Christianity trains us 'to live sober, upright, and godly lives in the world, awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ' (Titus 2:12-13)" (emphasis his, p. 1092).

Grudem comments, "To some extent, then, the degree to which we actually long for Christ's return is a measure of the spiritual condition of our own lives at the moment" (p. 1093).

I think that CS Lewis somewhere wrote that when we experience deep longing for something, we are really longing for heaven. I believe that in the Christian heart, the longing for Jesus and the longing for heaven is co-mingled.

These comments and thoughts led me to think of one of my favorite passages from Malcolm Muggeridge's biography Chronicles of Wasted Time.

Malcolm Muggeridge led an interesting life. He was the British journalist who popularized Mother Teresa in his Something Beautiful for God. He was a journalist in England for the Manchester Guardian. He was with the British intelligence unit serving as an operative during WWII with MI5. He went on to become an editor of the famous British satirical journal Punch. I believe he became a Catholic while in his 70’s.

In this passage, Muggeridge notes how, counterintuitively, an appreciation and perspective on our eternal destiny increases the value we place on our temporal surroundings.

How can I ever explain to those who insist that we must believe in the world to love it that it is because I disbelieve in the world that I love every breath I take, look forward with ever-greater delight to the coming of each spring, rejoice ever more in the companionship of my fellow-humans, to no single one of whom – searching my heart – do I wish ill, and from no single one of whom do I wish to separate myself, in word or thought or deed, or in the prospect of some other existence beyond the ticking of the clocks, the vista of the hills, the bounds and dimensions of our earthly hopes and desires? To accept this world as a destination rather than a staging-post, and the experience of living in it as expressing life’s full significance, would seem to me to reduce life to something too banal and trivial to be taken seriously or held in esteem.

…

In other words, the Christian proposition that he that loves his life in this world shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall see it projected and glorified into eternity, is for living, not for dying. After all, it was a St Francis who truly loved the world he so gaily abjured, as his enchanting prayers and canticles convey; not a Pere Goriot who so cherished its commodities. It is misers and Don Juans who moan; spendthrifts and saints are always laughing.

….

All I can claim to have learnt from the years I have spent in this world is that the only happiness is love, which is attained by giving, not receiving; and that the world itself only becomes the dear and habitable dwelling place it is when we who inhabit it know we are migrants, due when the time comes to fly away to other more commodious skies. "

the emerging church and evangelism

On Thursday 26 October 2006, Scot McKnight gave a talk @ Westminster Theological Seminary's Emerging Church Forum entitled, "What is the Emerging Church?"

There he said in one of the most passionate sections of the talk (this really comes thru in the audio of his presentation):

"The emerging church is not known for [evangelism] - and I wish it were known more for it. I believe it is right here that we are staring at a very serious issue for the emerging movement itself: any kind of Christianity and any kind of Christian ... that is not evangelistic is woefully inadequate. Unless you proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, there is no good news at all; and if there is no good news, there is no Christianity - emerging or Reformed.

...I offer here a warning to you and to the emerging movement: any movement that is not evangelistic is failing the Lord. We may be humble about what we believe and we may be careful to make the gospel and its commitment clear, but we better have a goal in mind - the goal of summoning everyone to follow Jesus Christ and to discover the redemptive work of God in Christ through the Spirit of God" [emphasis Scot's].

- as recorded in the PDF of his talk

And so I have some questions and I welcome answers in the comments.

I do not assume that these questions aren't being asked and answered anywhere in the emerging church. But we are perceived as being unconcerned with these issues.

Are we concerned?

Who in the emerging church conversation is doing the best job at addressing below? It would be great if we could capture some of the best thinking on below by links in comments or your comments.

• What does it mean to be "saved" in the New Testament? Is anyone in trouble and needing to be saved?
  
  
• What does it mean to be "born again" in the New Testament?
  
  
• Why don't we talk about sin?
  
  
• Who is talking about fulfilling the Great Commission?
  
  
• There is a lot of talk about expanding our understanding of the atonement beyond penal substitution, and it seems that few in the emerging church who are doing this are denying penal substitution. So if, then, we do believe in penal substitution, are we talking about judgment? Do we need to warn anyone about anything?
  
  
• Are we afraid that if we talk about these things that we will be labeled fundamentalist?
  
  
• Are we allowing a past exclusive emphasis of some on our eternal destiny after we die to drive us to the opposite extreme of an almost exclusive focus on issues of justice today?
  
  
• Why does this have to be an either/or; why can't it be a both/and?
  
  
• And, finally, if you can't point to any links or books where emergers are talking about these matters, what do you think?
  

Can we afford to ignore matters that seem to be such a prominent part of the New Testament documents?

who is this person?

"Once upon a time there was a gifted young scholar whose star was rising in the academic world. The young man had gone to premier schools, and he had even traveled to Germany to pursue a doctorate in the fatherland. He studied with the finest scholars, and his work was of the finest quality. His dissertation was published in a prestigious academic series. He landed a teaching job. He began to churn out scholarly books and articles.

And then something happened. That young scholar became more and more convinced that teaching the truths he was trading in was not enough. Such things had to be proclaimed, heralded, exposited. He had to preach.

So the rising young evangelical scholar who had written his dissertation in the field of New Testament, specializing in Jesus studies, left the lectern for the pulpit. He took his precise, academic training and sought to apply it to non-academic Christians.

For nearly thirty years his soul was refined by the Bible, the afflictions of life, the pains of the pastorate. For nearly thirty years he labored for language that would convince the mind and compel the heart. For nearly thirty years he preached and prayed, read and wrote, wept and rejoiced as a shepherd of the flock of God, in which the Holy Spirit had appointed him an overseer.

For nearly thirty years academic scholarship on Jesus continued to be produced. Learned and precise it was, but not always connected to the reality about Jesus. Quagmired in discussions of which Gospel was written first, which saying of Jesus was authentic, how and whether the Gospels can be shown to be historically reliable, and how Jesus really subverts or supports some modern political agenda, academic scholarship on Jesus often seems to miss the Messiah altogether. For nearly thirty years non-academic writing about Jesus continued as well, and in most cases it wasn’t any better. These non-academic books were intended to be devotional, but often they were painfully ignorant of historical realities, resulting in a distorted, modern, sentimental, not very Jewish and not very helpful portrait of Jesus.

The brilliant young scholar is now an aged pastor, and in him are conjoined the sensibilities of the historian and the wisdom of one who has been with the sheep. "

- find out who from jim hamilton. I didn't know this!

I just received the book jim mentions for my birthday. it looks interesting and i'm looking forward to diving in.

on charles spurgeon

adrian warnock posts interesting excerpts from a john piper talk on spurgeon.

Did Evangelicals Abandon the Republicans?

"Some liberal religious advocates proclaimed yesterday that the Democratic sweep showed that their party had succeeded in closing what they called the God Gap. But the results are more mixed than that, according to experts who analyze trends among religious voters.

Defying predictions of widespread disillusionment, white evangelical and born-again Christians did not desert Republican Congressional candidates and they did not stay home, nationwide exit polls show."

- The New York Times article

Also, Terry Mattingly does an around-the-room about how different news outlets are covering the topic of religion and the 2006 mid-term elections

Habermas: "Dealing with Doubt"

Habermas entire book: Dealing with Doubt

ht: roger overton

writing on the side

"If a person wants to write, nearly always it has to be a way of life. Some do manage to write on the side, but the vast majority write every day, all the time, and they begin the day in the mind wondering how best to express a thought.

The biggest mistake I see in young professors is the (almost always) mistaken notion that they will write during the summer break full-time or they’ll wait until the Chrstmas break or over the Spring Break. No analogies work completely, but to me that is about like saying, “I’ll not train all year long, and try running competitively over break.” Like running, writing is something that takes constant practice.

And here’s the second mistake I often see: some think they can begin a writing career by writing a book. Instead, it is easier to begin by writing book reviews, magazine articles, and journal articles."

- great post by scot mcknight on writing

sermonizing on ted haggard

From the right brain ("right" as opposite to "left," not "right" as opposite "wrong."):

I have now gotten to the point where I just can't read any more blogged conclusions about Ted Haggard.

I wonder if we need to pray more - for Ted, for his family, for his accusers, for his church and, perhaps especially, for us - and conclude less about how his fall is a red light on the dashboard about what's wrong with ________.

My response to reading all I've read has been to want to stop blogging for a time.

It's made me question why I blog.

Am I just looking for profound things to say so that I can sound deep and get folks to think I'm cool and spiritual? I don't want that. I want this blog to be an expression of my love for God and for others in response to what Jesus has done for me. God help me.

I'm not saying conclusions can't be drawn about the state of [fill in the blank]. It just all seems too fast, too soon. It's almost like that this was all so quick and so dramatic that it's provided a litmus test of us and what we think and who we are.

You are likely the best judge of your motives; so if this fits, put it on. If it doesn't, just kick it to the curb and keep on blogging. Maybe this post says more about me than about you.

It's mostly a feeling, I guess.

a customized emerging church google search engine

c. wess daniels writes:

" I spent a couple hours this morning creating a customized emerging church search engine using Google’s new Co-op feature. I’ve added tons and tons of websites and blogs that deal with emerging church issues. My sources for this list came from Scot McKnight, Ryan Bolger, The Daily Scribe, Andrew Jones, Jordon Cooper, Adam Cleaveland and Steve Taylor. This is a working project and I will be tweaking it as I receive feedback and what-not. I am sorry if I missed anyone, you can contact me if you’d like to be added."

- the emerging church google search engine

*all* have sinned - including Christians

"About 25 Christian students yesterday took turns confessing their sins on Nyumburu Cultural Center's amphitheater stage to counter the message three evangelical Christian preachers espoused on the same stage Tuesday - that "real Christians don't sin."

"One by one, we are going to come up [on stage], say our name and acknowledge that we have sinned," said Ryan Penley, the campus director of Campus Crusade for Christ, who organized the event.

...

Penley, who organized yesterday's event by sending an e-mail to various Christian groups on campus, also invited members of the Pride Alliance, the campus group that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students that organized Tuesday's counter demonstration.

Penley said it was important to reach out to the Pride Alliance because they had been shown the most hate by Soulwinners Ministries, and hatred toward campus community members was one of the main things Campus Crusade was trying to challenge and diminish. Although Campus Crusade doesn't condone homosexual activity, it also doesn't condone hatred toward homosexuals, and that distinction was worth emphasizing, Penley said."

- link to this University of Maryland newspaper - the Diamondback - story

Ryan Penley contributed an editorial to the Diamondback, which they printed. It says - in part

"They were furious and raging about this "Christian" on the campus and his preaching about homosexuals going to hell. It piqued my curiosity, to say the least, so I asked them what was going on. They pointed me to the ampitheater, and that's when I saw it for myself.

As a Christian who works full-time in ministry with students at this university, I was embarrassed and ashamed. Time and time again, people like this show up and display our ignorance.

There were many things that frustrated me about this guy. I just could not believe he called himself a Christian and then on the back of his "Fear God" shirt, it read "Christians do not sin." I just wanted to go up and punch this guy and beat him with his own sign. Therein lies proof Christians do sin, because that desire probably didn't please God.

...

So yes, according to the Bible, homosexuality, drunkenness and sex outside of marriage are "sins," but so are lying (oops), jealousy (oops again), pride (are you serious?), selfishness (oh crap, I'm definitely screwed!), etc. Sin is sin in God's eyes. What I mean is that my selfishness is just as displeasing to God as someone else's homosexual actions. Yet for some reason these people come on the campus and point the finger at people's homosexuality and not at my selfishness. That's just wrong."

- entire editorial

Ryan and Jenny Penley's were a part of the church Beth and I attend which supports them in their ministry to University of Maryland students.

Ted Haggard Apologizes to His Church

The Associated Press released this a few minutes ago. This from a letter read to New Life this morning:

"I am so sorry for the circumstances that have caused shame and embarrassment for all of you," he said, adding that he had confused the situation by giving inconsistent remarks to reporters denying the scandal.

"The fact is I am guilty of sexual immorality, and I take responsibility for the entire problem.

I am a deceiver and a liar. There's a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it for all of my adult life.

...

...the accusations that have been leveled against me are not all true, but enough of them are true that I have been appropriately and lovingly removed from ministry."

UPDATES:

• the entire letter and the text of letter from Gayle Haggard to New Life (from the Denver Post)
• Denver Post story about New Life services this morning
• Colorado Springs Gazette story about New Life services this morning (New Life is in Colorado Springs)
  

Let's pray for New Life and for Ted, Gayle, his family, and for everyone involved in this tragic matter.

Michael Polanyi

This marvelous and insightful audio summary of the brilliant philosopher-scientist Michael Polanyi is now available on MP3 from Mars Hill Audio.

I posted some of my own reflections on Polanyi some time ago.

Also, Mars Hill has started a podcast!

I've intermittently subscribed to the Mars Hill Audio Journal (not the podcast - it's been around for years and started on cassette) for the last few years and it's not infrequently thought provoking.

a great around the room on Westminster Theological Seminary's recent Emerging Church Conference

courtesy of tony stiff.

tony links to audio, written text , and summaries of various of the talks.

the two-dimensionalization of those not present

The blogosphere is now exploding with comment about Ted Haggard's troubles. Here's what Haggard has to say, where he admits that some of the allegations are true.

On the now defunct faithmaps discussion group, we used to have a policy of respect for those present and respect for those not present - even if they were public figures.

I'd like to caution everyone who might be tempted to pontificate on this situation that we need to wait until all the facts are out before we draw conclusions and make broad sweeping statements. We need to maintain respect and not two-dimensionalize anyone involved in this sad affair. We mustn't collapse Haggard down to our suspicions or his confessions. We mustn't collapse Mike Jones down to the fact that he's a "former self-described male prostitute."

I'm not saying that hard choices won't need to be made or consequences might not need to be experienced. But just because we live in an age in which we can quickly get information, that information doesn't come down to us with either a guarantee of accuracy or the assurance of instantaneous proper perspective.

That can take some time.

And what if it this were about someone you loved?

a view into souls

AP: Letters to God End Up in Ocean, Unread

"Many more were written by anguished spouses, children or widows, pouring out their hearts to God, asking for help with relatives who were using drugs, gambling or cheating on them. One man wrote from prison, saying he was innocent and wanted to be back home with his family. A woman wrote that her boyfriend was now closing the door to her daughter's bedroom each night when it used to stay open, and wondered why.

A teenager poured out her heart on yellow-lined paper in the curlicue pencil handwriting of a schoolgirl, begging God to forgive her and asking for a second chance.

"Lord, I know that I have had an abortion and I killed one of your angels," she wrote. "There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about the mistake I made.""

On Communicating Clearly

I know. Another post pointing to Jesus Creed. I'm really not trying to be "all Scot, all the time."

It's just that his recent talk to that bastion of Reformed Theology - Westminster Theological Seminary - has precipitated a burst of comment, much of it his! (And I just ordered all the Horton, Franke and Mcknight talks given @ WTS' Emerging Church Forum).

Scot posts some important thoughts today about the importance of communicating effectively to people who don't know theological nomenclature.

It took me a looooong time to come to the same conclusion.

I enjoy multi-syllabic words. I really thrill to be reading along, find a word I don't know, and check AHD online or grab the closest dictionary. (As evidence of my wonkish ways: just a couple of days ago, I bought a compact dictionary to put in my backpack because I'm finding Barbara Tuchman uses lots of words in her Guns of August - also, of course, in my backpack - that I don't know ). I take great joy in writing extended, complicated sentences cascading down the page with endless dependent clauses.

But just in the last couple of years, I've realized that - for me at least - a lot of this was pride, some of it was thoughtlessness, and perhaps even a bit of laziness. And so I've tried to communicate more clearly in my writing, though I know I still have much room for improvement.

Thanks Scot.

Words fueled by love will always find their mark.

Audio of Talks now Available for Purchase from WTS' Emerging Church Forum

Including talks by John Franke, Scot McKnight, Michael Horton, and others

You can get them here.

Westminster Theological Seminary is to be commended for bringing in two leading emerging church conversationalists to participate in this forum as opposed to just evaluating it from a distance.

ht: Bob Robinson

Reformed Conferences

If you're looking for conferences with a Reformed flavor, Tim Challies is keeping a Directory.

Anybody know if anyone is doing this for emerging church confabs (within and without emergent village)?

ht: andrew jackson

Scot McKnight on Disagreeing Christianly

"Most of the schools, and also some of the churches, are clearly aware of their doctrinal distinctives. None more so than Westminster. In spite of theological differences, Christians welcome other Christians — which is to say we really do try to live out our creedal confession of the communion of the saints and the unity of the Church. I surely experienced this at WTS."

• Scot's entire post
  
  
• Scot's 1st post on his experience @ Westminster
  
  
• the PDF transcript of Scot's talk there
  
  
• the audio of his talk
  
  
• toward a praxis of theological disagreement, part 1
  
  
• toward a praxis of theological disagreement, part 2
  
  
• dealing with conflict
  

Andrew Jones Recommends...

...the top 5 books on the emerging church.

Scot McKnight on His Experience @ Westminster Theological Seminary

"I think it is only honest to say that a few faculty, who have written against emerging/emergent, protested the event by not attending the sessions — at least so I was told. Sadly, I think — why? Because they are the ones with whom I would have most especially enjoyed conversation, and the ones who perhaps could have learned from the discussions."

- all his reflections

On Multi-Site Churches

Leadership Network asked me to work with them to put together a piece designed to help church leaders who are considering going multi-site, which has just been published

Some have commented that the emerging church phenomenon is partly a response to the megachurch movement. As a consequence, doubtless the megachurch to multi-site church shift that's currently happening in over 1000 churches in North America will not be viewed favorably by some in the emerging church conversation.

I see the expansion of the multi-site church as spiritually agnostic. It intrinsically isn't a good thing or a bad thing. The value of the growth of the multi-site movement toggles on the mission, health, and motivation of the individual churches doing the expansion. It's easy for me to see how an individual pastor's decision to move his church to multi-site might primarily be an expression of his desire to establish his own dominion on earth. On the other hand, the move to multi-site could be a more efficient means for a healthy, dynamic, life-changing church to extend its kingdom-impacting reach.

I lump local church setup, megachurch, and multi-site church organizations all under the same category: they are means of increasing efficiency. I see the local church, the megachurch, and multi-site churches as potential contexts for spiritual stuff. The building of buildings, the setting up of organizational connections between disparate locations, the hiring of staff, etc. - none of those things are the spiritual stuff. They are part of the context within which spiritual events - expressions of love and worship - may or may not occur. (I'm not suggesting that the hammering of a nail can't be a similar expression). The value of the local church, the megachurch, and the multi-site church is contingent on the maturity, passion, giftedness, and motivation of those who set them up. Mature leaders realize that local church, megachurch, and multi-site church organizations are tools for kingdom impact.

And some of these multi-site churches are doing great things. One such church I interviewed sent $1 million dollars last year to Waveland, MS after Katrina hit. When I was interviewing them, Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon were at war. This same church was preparing relief teams to go to both Lebanon and Israel.

The kingdom work of a house church with 14 members is not to be depreciated. But neither is the kingdom work of a far larger organization.

I've expanded on some of these thoughts in the Next-Wave article When the Church is its Own Worst Enemy.

Scot McKnight on the Emerging Church @ Westminster Theological Seminary

Scot has released the transcript of his talk on the emerging church that he gave Westminster Theological Seminary at their recent Emerging Church Forum. It's now posted on Mark Traphegan's site.

The audio of Scot's talk can be found here (though the recording cuts off the end of Scot's lecture).

Audio of Scot McKnight on the Emerging Church @ Westminster Theological Seminary

courtesy of Gideon Teo here.

ht: Andrew Jones

as a public service: firefox 2 and opening bookmarks in new tabs

The old extensions didn't work in the new firefox 2 but I finally found this. No more right keying on bookmarks to open them in new tabs!

Once downloaded, you have to open the file from within firefox (file-open) and then it will install.

Great Resources for New Testament Study

See this wonderful page by Roy Ciampa, who is Associate Professor of New Testament at Gordon-Conwell Seminary.

Among the many helpful listings are:

• Annotated Old Testament Bibliography (including a section on commentaries) @ Denver Seminary
  
  
• Annotated New Testament Bibliography (also with a commentary section) @ Denver Seminary
  
  
• The 26th Edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek Text with parsing and lexical notes when you place the cursor over a word. Wonderful.
  
  
• Resources for Textual Criticism
  
  
• and many, many other helpful links
  

ht: justin taylor

scot mcknight @ westminster

Andrew Jones has pulled in all the blogosphere comment.

charlie wear suggests it's time to become post-emerging

from the publisher of Next-Wave, which Andrew Jones says is "possibly the greatest emerging church online publication ever."

"Of course, it is now time to relabel this thing that God is inspiring, this thing that God is doing through those he has called to minister to their younger non-baby boomer peers. It is no longer "emerging" because it has "emerged." We can see it now, for sure. Why in some ways, it has become copyrighted, trademarked and branded! Critics are making a living from criticizing it. Publishers are making money by publishing about it. "

we've commented before on the post-emerging church here and, briefly, here.

The History of the Middle East...

...in 90 seconds.

A great find by Michael Kruse.

just entertainment: heroes

Beth and I have been totally enjoying Heroes. It's about several individuals who come to realize that they have different kind of superpowers. It's definitely comic bookesque but not unintelligent. And it's also a bit like Lost in that it's teasing out the larger story - not sure exactly what's going on.

The character we enjoy this most is a Japanese guy named Hiro who learns that he can bend time and space. He's completely hilarious and this is the fulfillment of a fantasy for him because he's a total comic book geek. And he doesn't yet speak a word of English (though last week we learned that he will).

There's also a je ne sais quoi ab the show that I can't quite put my finger on. If I read above, for example, on someone's blog, I'm not at all sure I would rush and watch an episode. I guess what I'm saying is that the only way to know for sure if you'll like it is to give it a try. If you want to catch up on the show, you can download episodes here (not sure if it's all of them or not).

In other TV, we also love Battlestar Galactica (simply awesome and nothing like the 70's series). I'm a big Sorkin fan but the bloom is coming off the rose for me for Studio 60. Loved the first episode but it's been downhill from there.

Walking with Grief

Steve Taylor provides us an excerpt of some writing by George McDonald in the book Celtic Prayer:

"Do not hurry
As you walk with grief
It does not help the journey

Walk slowly
Pausing often
Do not hurry
As you walk with grief

Be gentle with the other
Who walks with grief
If it is you
Be gentle with yourself
Swiftly forgive
Walk slowly
Pausing often

Take time, be gentle
as you walk with grief"

The Works of Jonathan Edwards Online

Yale is making the works of Jonathan Edwards available online and searchable. They write:

"The Works of Jonathan Edwards Online is the critical digital source for Jonathan Edwards texts on the web. Drawing heavily on the fifty-plus years of editorial work done by the Works of Jonathan Edwards project at Yale University, the Works of Jonathan Edwards Online will digitally publish manuscripts and edited versions of all of the 100,000 pages that Jonathan Edwards produced in his lifetime. Editorially tagged and fully searchable by chronology, theme, and scripture, as well as full text, the Works of Jonathan Edwards Online offers an expertly guided research experience in the papers of Jonathan Edwards. Please register today to use the Works of Jonathan Edwards Online."

Reformation 21 lets us know the current status of the project:

"The Works of Jonathan Edwards Online presently contains all of the Miscellanies (Edwards' private theological notebooks) and some two hundred sermons, many of which have never been published."

- The Works of Jonathan Edwards Online

The Amish say, "Thank you."

"Every Monday for more than 30 years, the Die Botschaft newspaper has gone into the mailboxes of Amish subscribers nationwide.

Filled with letters from correspondents across the country, the weekly publication prints information from the Amish, for the Amish.

This week's (Oct. 16) issue, though, is an exception. The front page of Die Botschaft reaches out to the English--non-Amish--world.

"Thank You," reads the simple headline at the top of the page. "

...

"It has never happened before. Never. This is very unusual," said the paper's editor, Elam Lapp, when asked when Die Botschaft last printed information aimed at the non-Amish community."

- Religious News Service link on BeliefNet

alan hirsch has...

...started blogging!

alan and mike frost wrote The Shaping of Things to Come.

books on the atonement

readers, what books do you recommend on the atonement? I'm looking for books that treat and honor penal substitution while incorporating learnings from the other theories?

thanks.

keeping up with comments

Back in the early days of emerging church conversation, a lot of the talk was in email discussion groups, like yahoogroups. Nowadays, it seems that most of it occurs in blogs.

When dj chuang and I had lunch some days ago, I was complaining to him about blogger's lack of comment notification and let him know I was considering moving to Wordpress. There's a great Wordpress hack (if it's not this one, it's like it) that lets commentors opt into automatic emails whenever a comment is added to a blogpost on which they've commented. Scot McKnight has this installed at Jesus Creed.

dj helpfully turned me on to cocomment, and I spent some time this morning playing with it. It's pretty cool but not everything that I'd like. It let's the person who signs up be easily notified whenever someone comments on posts on which they've commented, but it doesn't let blog owners in blogger offer this to readers. Each reader would have to sign up for cocomment themselves to take advantage of it.

I registered and while I can't offer this service to my readers, at least I can keep up with all the discussion on blogposts on which I've commented without having to revisit a blog to check and see if there's been any additional conversation. I can either go to a special cocomment page or - even better - my page has an rss feed and I can track all my comments using bloglines (my aggregator of choice).

I'd actually rather stick with blogger, so I'm hoping that blogger beta will add this functionality, or that I'll find a blogger hack that will let me offer this as a service to my readers.

If anyone has any suggestions as to the easiest way for me to enable my readers to opt into getting email notifications of future comments to blogposts on which they comment, I'd love to hear them.

i'm very late but...

...I just saw that carla et al have sort of shut down emergent no.

While Carla and I didn't necessarily always agree, what I do like about her is that I think she sincerely yearns for the truth.

slice of laodicea shuts down comments

Ingrid writes:

"As of today, Slice has become a non-interactive news and commentary blog. We deeply appreciate those Slice readers who have added intelligent and helpful comments to the body of Christ in the past, but due to the abuse of the comment section and its becoming a source of divisiveness and further confusion in the church, we have decided to permanently remove the sound and fury and get back to our main focus. We at Slice view what we do as a ministry, not a hobby. Our desire is to put forth information, sermons, articles and devotionals that will strengthen the body of Christ in our Laodicean times and warn about the encroaching error as well. We are not here to please people or to give a platform for the opinons of others. We're accountable before God for our own stands on critical issues and we are now limiting the site to those views. Anyone desiring to discuss a post or an issue privately with a Slice contributor can do so by email. If you want a public forum for your views, you can start up your own blog very easily. Thank you, Slice readers, for caring about truth in an hour when some groups are even debating its existence. Forward in Christ!"

- link

ht: charlie wear, who also reports he's had to get more involved in Next-Wave comments.

evangelicals for darfur

" We come to you from across the evangelical spectrum. We beseech you to act on your faith and do the right thing by leading the world to stop the genocide affecting "the least of these" in Darfur. To date, more than 400,000 people have been killed. 2.5 million displaced. Countless more have been raped, maimed, and tortured: Men, women, and children created in God's image, innocents all. Ending the atrocities will require your personal leadership in supporting the deployment of a strong U.N. peacekeeping force and multilateral economic sanctions. While we often disagree on matters of politics, we are united in the belief that your intervention can make the critical difference in Darfur. We join together now to urge you, in the words of Proverbs 24:11-12, to "rescue those being led away to death." We pledge to do everything we can to rally support in both Congress and the U.N. to support your leadership in ending the horror in Darfur. "

- we ran this ad today, as did many others.

- evangelicals for darfur

an australian-united states conversation on the emerging church...

...is now available in audio format on the new forge wa website.

this conversation features:

• da carson
• andrew hamilton
• geoff westlake
  

I had commented on this conversation earlier.

This conversation is valuable in terms of how it provides insight into different emerging church streams within the international conversation.

ht: andrew hamilton

looking for great sermons online

who do you like to listen to and from where do you download their messages? Please respond in comments and serve all emergesque readers!

thanks.

a bono encounter

My friend Dave Cowan had the chance to recently meet Bono. Read about it here.

I first met Dave Cowan and Clay Carver a few years ago here in the Baltimore area right when they started Soul Horizon, a multi-site church here.

I got to see bono some time ago when we interviewed him in our offices, but I've never met him. go dave.

- a great rolling stone interview with bono

The NY Times on Technorati

"While rates of blog-reading are relatively comparable in major European countries and the United States — roughly one-quarter of the population looks at blogs at least once a week in America, Britain and France — blogs based in the United States remain more influential, according to the survey."

- 55 Million Blogs, and Now a Service to Track Them

ht: Michael W Kruse

Most of the readers of emergesque probably use Technorati more for meme-tracking.

if you're looking for online resources for bible study...

...and, specifically, word studies, look no further than the comments on this Scot McKnight post.

Reviews on A Heretics Guide to Eternity

rick meigs links to a number of reviews of spencer burke's recent controversial book.

kudos to beth

I'm married to a wonderful woman. On Sat 7 October 2006, Beth biked 100 miles in a Nor'Easter in the Seagull Century. She was riding with Team in Training to raise money for leukemia and lymphoma cancer research. Team in Training raised over $800,000 for cancer research in this event.

The girls and I met Beth @ Assateague Island, 60 miles into her trek (pics). Beth wore ribbons to represent cancer victims - white ribbons represented those who've passed (including Beth's dad when she was 12 and then her step-dad when she was 17) and purple for those who have beaten cancer (including my first cousin, Robert Thompson and my aunt, Peggy Edwards).

I'm so proud of her I could bust! She did a great job.

The History and Significance of Next Wave

A-List Emerging Church Blogger Andrew Jones pronounces that

Next-Wave "is possibly the greatest emerging church online publication ever."

The founder and publisher of Next-Wave - Charlie Wear - provides a brief history of the zine.

andy rowell has no regard whatsoever...

...for your spending your free time in any kind of balanced way.

:)

Find a veritable smorgasbord of ipod food courtesy of andy here and here.

Next Wave: What's a faithmap?

Charlie Wear announces the October 2006 edition of Next-Wave and that Bob Hyatt is the online zine's new editor.

I had never published a piece explaining the definition of "faithmap" outside of my sites. Bob runs "What's a faithmap?" in this issue.

jason clark reviews spencer's burke's A Heretic's Guide to Eternity

"I was sent this book by the publishers, and avoided blogging on it, mainly because I usually only review books I find helpful, and I wondered what purpose reviewing is unfavorably would serve. Then I read this post on Tony Jones blog, about whether Emergent was moving beyond the orthodox, and that got me thinking about where the boundaries are for our discussions."

- full review

They've also sent me a copy and I do intend to review it. It's in the queue.

Daniel B Wallace on Inerrancy

An interesting take in inerrancy

ht: andrew jones

"Dieu me pardonnera; c'est son metier."

bob carlton has a wonderful post that speaks to some of the admiration and amazement that I've felt in the last few days regarding the amish response to the recent horrible killing of their children.

in just one of many stories on the amish response and perspective, the ny times ran a story about how dozens of amish attended the killer's funeral.

- other stories

the new third place and the declining cost of information

UPDATE: I had already linked to it below, but I just wanted to especially highlight that Tim Keller and Tony Jones interact with each other and Scot McKnight and others within DJ's blog in comments. Not to be missed.

as dj chuang pointed out, we had a great time at lunch yesterday. dj and i hadn't seen each other since the hard times emerging church cohort confab over a year ago.

I asked dj if he had ever heard of a blogger hack that allows you to set up the same option you see on jesus creed so that when you leave a comment, you can opt into getting emails whenever anyone else comments on the same blogpost. he said that he didn't but told me about cocomment which allows you to sign up and follow all the posts on which you comment. now while that's undeniably cool, and I might use it, I'd like to set something up on this blog that serves my readers and doesn't force them elsewhere. I'll either wait for blogger to add it or switch to WordPress (comments or alternative suggestions welcome).

this has become more important to me since I shut down the faithmaps discussion group. i finding i'm more interested in comment here and will probably pay attention to it more. And whereas in the past, there seemed to be more interest in discussion groups, nowadays folks seem to be doing more of their online discussion in blogs.

In fact - and more significantly - blogs seem to be the new third place where various ideological streams can co-mingle and interact. we've seen this recently with the somewhat amiable collision (here and here) between the new reformers and emergent precipitated by the just completed Desiring God 2006 Conference entitled Above All Earthly Powers: The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World and in the even more amiable very minor collision between an emerging church reformer and a new reformer within the conference itself.

while I do have a dog in the fight (that I may post later), here i'm just commenting on the discussion itself. it's quite notable as an illustration of our new information situation:

A conference occurs and the sessions are posted quickly for all to hear. within one session, one presenter makes mildly critical comments of another (in the context of criticizing himself). this leads to much online discussion and then one the presenters emails the other to demonstrate relational unity and then the conversation is posted after permission for the world to see. controversy begun and ended in record time.

meanwhile, tony jones reveals that piper's comments on the emergent church at the conference didn't occur outside of a relational context and invites more discussion with tim keller which begins in the comments of tony's blog (with keller commenting further here).

i've heard more than one major leader complain about blogs and surely they can be maddening. anyone in the developed world with a little financial means can basically broadcast whatever they think in completely unexpurgated fashion to anyone.

but i have to say that I find all this conversation between different theological perspectives a wonderful thing. while there is absolutely no question that tony is correct to value the wider sensory bandwidth that came with his interaction with piper and would come with his desired meeting with keller, the immediacy of online interaction does not limit the conversation to the severe time, coordination, and financial constraints involved in having to be in the same room at the same time.

the bottom line is that with the lowered cost of information afforded us by blogs, discussion groups, audio downloads, etc. we can move more quickly in coming to mutual understanding. If we want to.

Is it a panacea of theological formulation?

Of course not, because while the conversation is easier to have, the maturity that's required for such a conversation is still very difficult to come by (which I've discussed here and here).

Our humility and character will still dictate whether or not we'll all be able to strengthen the church within our new information situation. But if those are in place, we do now have the ability to have our own perspectives adjusted, widened, or sharpened more quickly.

penal substitution: andrew jones posts an around the room...

....summarizing some of the current and recent discussion on the issue.

If you need a primer on the topic and current state of discussion, here's a good place to start with links to some of the primary folks talking about this recently.

James Sire on NT Wright's "Simply Christian"

James Sire commends and reviews the recent book by NT Wright's entitled Simply Christian.

emergent's tony jones, john piper, and tim keller

Tony Jones reports on his recent lunch with John Piper and also responds to Tim Keller's recent comments about emergent.

ht: justin taylor

I expect that Keller will reach out to Jones for a conversation.

UPDATE (thanks to dj chuang in comments below): Tim Keller has briefly responded to Tony in comments to Tony's post above.

Summaries of the Supremacy of Christ in the Postmodern World Conference

Roger Overton does a good job at briefly summarizing the major talks of this Desiring God 2006 Conference. He also helpfully links to other summaries covered.

I'm now listening to the messages which are downloadable here.

piper and driscoll aren't fighting

mark driscoll posts their email exchange after piper made some critical (yet also self-depreciating) remarks at a recent Desiring God conference.

- ht: steve mccoy

andrew jones on his history with "the emerging church"

"A little more history of my love-hate relationship with what is now called “Emerging Church”. Put this account with other histories to get a fuller version of what has happened in the last two decades in the church of North America and around the Western world.

I should start by saying that what happened in USA twenty years ago was not called “emerging church” nor “missional church”. In fact, it wasn't even recognized as a movement or trend or even a 'conversation' until many years later. Here is the beginning of my history - at least from my viewpoint."

- the rest of part 1

to the best of my remembrance, andrew and i have never met, but I have seen him. Several years ago at Cedar Ridge (which Brian McLaren founded and I attended from 1988 until 2001), Andrew Jones, Brian, John Franke, and Mark Driscoll participated in a small conference. I remember a tall guy on the panel. I don't think at that time I had ever read his blog. Now, of course, Andrew's an emerging church household name. :)

twice in the last week, i've asked beth if she'd like to move to australia...

...with me of course!

...because i'm finding so much resonance with their flavor of emerging church.

tim keller on the future of emergent

the following is an excerpt of a justin taylor interview of
tim keller:

JT: Tim, is the emergent church going to be a footnote or a chapter in the history of the church?

TK: If you define evangelicalism in a John Stott kind of way, the seeker movement is inside evangelicalism. The emergent church is moving away from orthodoxy. In places like Yale, there is a post-liberal emphasis on the text that shows a distinction from old liberalism. This emergent group is really much like this group. Emergent will never really grow as they will not plant churches or build colleges. They may produce some writers… but that is probably about all.

JT: Is emergent growing?

TK: It is producing pundits, but not community and institutions.

- full interview captured by Paul W Martin

Not sure if keller is collapsing emergent and the emerging church into the same entity; it would seem to be that he's not as many emerging churches are new churches.

I think that all of us - irrespective of idealogical stripe - need to view keller's words as a cautionary. It is so easy to be lost in words instead of lost in Jesus. And to be lost in Jesus is to alternate between meditation and execution.

ht: jordon

witherington on porn

Ben Witherington has a wonderfully sane and helpful post on pornography.

different currents in the emerging church river

I just finished reading andrew hamilton's wonderful four part blogpost series on da carson's recent visit to Baptist Theological College of Western Australia where he participated in conversations with

• andrew hamilton
  
  
• geoff westlake
  
  
• brian harris

The entire series is worth reading and provides more than a passing glance into the emerging church situation in Australia.

• 1st Post
  
  
• 2nd Post
  
  
• 3rd Post
  
  
• 4th Post
  
  
• 5th Post

According to Andrew Hamilton, the emerging church in Australia (which some there call "the emerging missional church") is somewhat different from the most famous current in the emerging church river in the United States. The article also provides more evidence that Steve Taylor is correct that to lose the distinction between the emerging church and emergent is to collapse the international discussion down to one current in the larger river.

ht: brother maynard

friend of people

Brendt suggests an alternative to "friends of emergent" or "friends of discernment." :)

I loved this. Earlier I posted on the terms emergent and emerging. Someone else brought in the missional moniker. I'm not abandoning that discussion but sometimes it does feel like "I am of Paul; I am of Jesus, etc"

ht: adam omelianchuk

wise words from andrew jackson

As I returned home from Turkey last night I became more convinced then ever that the most effective Christian bloggers are those who are engaged in much more than reading, reviewing, and commenting on books and other blogs or just posting their ideas and theologies over and over again, rather, they are those who are first and foremost active in the daily labor of ministry and mission from which they gain an experiential Kingdom perspective for blogging.

- link

- on transpropositionality

a beautiful reunion

"Hilda Shlick thought she lost nearly all her family in the Holocaust — until her Internet-savvy grandsons located her 81-year-old brother in Canada.

'After 65 years, I have found the sister who I love," Simon Glasberg said Monday in heavily accented English, his eyes filling with tears. "I can't stop kissing her.'"

- link

ht: jesus outside the box

in search of a blogger hack

is anyone aware of a blogger hack out there that will allow me to add comment notification to blogger comments? I'm looking for a way that folks can opt into receiving emails whenever someone replys to a comment they've left on a particular post. (I realize Wordpress and others offer this and I may switch one day. )

fantastic news about bob robinson!

"28-Sep-06 08:32 PM - Linda : UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! Bob was taken off the ventilator at 1 this am (yes, that is now 17 hours ago, about 8 hours after the surgery finished! He is awake and SOOOOO happy!!
We kept telling the nurses to tell him what day it was last night, so he knew he woke up on the same day, and not a month later! He is in quite a bit of pain, more from the drainage tube in his ribs than from the incision site, but he's so glad to be awake that he's just smiling!
The surgeon put in a 30cm graft...yes, that is 11.8 inches. Not what he planned to do, but apparently felt this would best protect the entire aorta from future aneurysms. He is the only Dr. there that has a different procedure that allows the time on circ arrest--when the body is cooled so dangerously low and many complications occur--to be very short. Often they are on it for 45 min to an hour, and Bob was only on for 5 minutes!!! Thank God in a million ways for how He has taken care of Bob!
He will be in the ICU Fri for sure, maybe moving out Fri pm or Sat...they are watching him more closely because of his wonderful history!
Please call me (or Bob's cell) if you want to visit to find out the best times and where he will be.
"Be still once more, oh my soul, for the Lord has been good to me" Ps 116:7 "

- bob's blog

more food for your ipod

entire seminary courses online from gordon-conwell including material from david wells.

Steve Taylor: the "emerging church" and "emergent" can't be viewed synonymously

Earlier, I had posted Is the Distinction between "Emerging Church" and "Emergent" Obscurantist?

In summary, my concern there was that while emergent village is a subset of the larger emerging church conversation, increasingly the terms seem to be used synonymously. I wondered aloud if we should just give up and and use the terms that way.

In the comments on that post, Steve Taylor from New Zealand correctly (imo) called my hand on such a proposal because to use "emergent" and "emerging church" as denoting the same group thereby runs the danger of collapsing the entire global conversation down to the issues that emergent village is discussing. Or it might imply that emergent village considers itself the primary international organization for the emerging church conversation which I don't believe that it does.

I agree with Steve that my comment was United States-centric and could be seen as dishonoring the international conversation.

Steve, thank you for pointing this out; I apologize.

All that being said, we still have confusion over the terms in the American context! Still not sure what to do about that. Not sure that saying over and over again that they aren't the same is the answer but maybe that's the best and only course we have.

andrew perriman: why the emerging church needs to believe in penal substitution

"The doctrine of ‘penal substitutionary atonement’ remains a major bone of contention between the yapping, excitable Jack Russell of the emerging church and the snarling pit bull of reformed theology. "

...

"The general argument that I want to put forward is that a doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement is certainly biblical but that it has to be framed narratively."

- entire article

more on "emergent," "the emerging church", and "the missional church"

jamie arpin-ricci posts regarding the ongoing blogospheric conversation regarding the terms

• emergent
• emerging church
• missional

- my first post on this (where conversation continues in the comments)
- Robbymac's comments and again here
- blind beggar's

pls also pray for Steve Mccoy's Mom

she's been diagnosed with breast cancer for the 2nd time.

"From that we found out the cancer in her lungs (originating from breast cancer) is spreading very rapidly. "

- link

Please Pray for Bob Robinson

On 2 Feb 2006, Bob Robinson went thru 13 hours of surgery after his aorta tore and blew up into a football shape. Bob went into a coma but woke up after 27 days and was eventually able to go home. But in April the aortic root started bulging again and there was great concern that it might burst. The doctors were able to get Bob's blood pressure under control, but the decision was made to do another surgery this month.

Tomorrow morning - Wed 27 Sept - Bob is having his aortic valve replaced and his aortic root replaced with a synthetic graft.

You can keep up with how Bob is doing here and you can get a username and password for that site on Bob's blog.

Please pray. If things go well, Bob will recover in about 2 months.

Friend of Missional

• "A missional church is one where people are exploring and rediscovering what it means to be Jesus' sent people as their identity and vocation.
• A missional church will be made up of individuals willing and ready to be Christ's people in their own situation and place.
• A missional church knows that they must be a cross-cultural missionary (contextual) people in their own community.
• A missional church will be engaged with the culture (in the world) without being absorbed by the culture (not of the world). They will become intentionally indigenous.
• A missional church understands that God is already present in the culture where it finds itself. Therefore, a missional church doesn't view its purpose as bringing God into the culture or taking individuals out of the culture to a sacred space.
• A missional church will seek to plant all types of missional communities to expand the Kingdom of God.
• A missional church faithfully proclaims the Gospel through word and deed; how we embody the gospel in our community and service is as important as what we say.
• A missional church seeks to put the good of their neighbor over their own.
• A missional church will give integrity, morality, good character and conduct, compassion, love and a resurrection life filled with hope preeminence to give credence to their reasoned verbal witness.
• A missional church practices hospitality by welcoming the stranger into the midst of the community.
• A missional church will see themselves as a community or family on a mission together. There are no "Lone Ranger" Christians in a missional church.
• A missional church will see themselves as representatives of Jesus and will do nothing to dishonor his name.
• A missional church will be totally reliant on God in all it does. It will move beyond superficial faith to a life of supernatural living.
• A missional church will be desperately dependent on prayer.
• A missional church gathered will be for the purpose of worship, encouragement, supplemental teaching, training, and to seek God's presence and to be realigned with his God's missionary purpose.
• A missional church is orthodox in its view of the Gospel and Scripture, but culturally relevant in its methods and practice so that it can engage the world view of the hearers.
• A missional church will feed deeply on the scriptures throughout the week so they are always ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why they're living the way they are.
• A missional church will be a community where all members are involved in learning to be disciples of Jesus. Growth in discipleship is an expectation.
• A missional church will help people discover and develop their spiritual gifts and will rely on gifted people for ministry instead of talented people.
• A missional church is a healing community where people carry each other's burdens and help restore gently."

Rick Meigs brings us Friend of Missional.

Help Stamp out Lymphoma and Leukemia!

My amazing wife is trying to cure cancer! Well sort of. On Sat 7 October 2006 Beth is biking 100 miles in the Seagull Century Ride to raise money for Cancer Research.

This is from a letter Beth wrote to her supporters earlier this month:

I think I’ve lost my mind. I’ve signed up for a 100-mile bike ride called the “Seagull Century Ride” Oct 7^th in Salisbury, Maryland, to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to give to local researchers in the fight against blood cancers. So far, Maryland’s Team In Training has raised enough money to support three local researchers for a year! I’ve personally raised a little over $500 but still need $1,500 to reach my goal of $2,000 ....

As many of you know, my Dad and my Step-Dad both died of cancer well before their time (my Dad was 44). This is the first time since their deaths that I really feel I have a chance to contribute to the search for a cure. When I’m feeling worn out, I remember their suffering and their struggle, and it helps me press on when I feel like stopping.

I’ve been in training for 10 weeks now with Team in Training, and I am . . . SORE. The last Sunday 40-mile ride through the hills (and I mean hills!) of Howard County kicked my butt! I am very committed to completing this journey and am writing to ask you to help me. I’ve enclosed an envelope for those of you who choose to support me. For a $50 donation, I’ll wear the name of a loved one who was affected by cancer (does not have to be blood cancer) – white for memorial, purple for survivor. I already have eight names that I’ll be wearing. Thanks so much, and here’s hoping we can help them find a cure.

If you'd like to talk to Beth about what she's doing, email her here.

If you'd like to participate in this effort, you can donate here!

- learn more about leukemia
- learn more about lymphoma

Thanks!

Is the Distinction between "Emerging Church" and "Emergent" Obscurantist?

I have a question and I'd like to precipitate some discussion in comments:

Mark Driscoll writes in Confessions of a Reformission Rev:

"The emergent church is part of the Emerging Church Movement but does not embrace the dominant theology of the movement" (emphasis mine).

In contrast, in the lively discussion section of the ever evolving emerging church definition on wikipedia, one of the participants commented:

"While I agree that there is a portion of the emerging church does not idenify with emergentvillage and those they label as "Emergent", the size and distinction of that group is small enough that it does not warrant its own article. Their definition and distinction of the terms emergent and emerging are not shared with many others and should not dominate their use in this article" [sic] (emphasis mine).

My experience has been that most of those that embrace the emerging church but don't associate as much with emergent village make that choice because they are not theological revisionists (to use Ed Stetzer's term without endorsing everything he said in his recent article - which I commented on here). (And - to be fair and just to make matters even more complicated - not all those who do associate themselves with emergent village would consider themselves revisionists, as Tony Jones recently pointed out).

But what I don't have a good handle on is the size of this group. Now, the majority doesn't rule on this question, but of the two quotes above, I don't feel that I know enough of the space to definitively state who's more correct - and I've been swimming around in the ec space for about as long as anyone.

So here's my question: are non-revisionist emerging church conversation participants so rare and so far away from the emerging church mainstream, that they just confuse people by claiming to be emerging church at all?

In other words, is the distinction of "emerging church" and "emergent" being made by so few of those in the emerging church conversation that those who maintain the distinction just need to face up to the fact that the dictionary definition has already been written by means of prevailing use and just give up on making a distinction?

(fwiw, I heartily embrace emerging church reconstructionism, but my own journey into emerging church revisionism has been far more nuanced, which I detail here.)

Any thoughts?

Mark Driscoll and His Critics

Mark Driscoll briefly responds to 2 recent books critical of Mars Hill and updates everyone on the latest news from Mars Hill.

tim keller resources

just found this great page of tim keller resources that steve mccoy maintains.

itunes 7.0.0.70 rules

just downloaded this new version of itunes tonight. wonderfully, it now supports the ability to select multiple songs/talks/etc and select "Remember Position" and "Skip While Shuffling" en masse.

I had just discovered these options and was changing them one by one as I moved files to my nano. Now I can mark all my Spoken Word files and be done with it!

Revisiting Optimism

yes is a world
& in this world of
yes life
(skilfully curled)
all worlds

ee cummings
"love is a place"
No Thanks (1935)

------------------------

⁴Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ⁵Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; ⁶do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me--practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Phil 4:4-9
(English Standard Version)

time and time again, i have to go back here and here.

And it seems that Seligman's material might be well summarized in these two words: Don't catastrophize.

food for your ipod

The very helpful English Standard Version Blog points us to a great resource for seminary-level audio files: biblicaltraining.org.

Speakers include:

• Gerald Bray - the Anglican Professor of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School - on church history
• Bill Mounce on Greek
• Ron Nash on apologetics, philosophy, & ethics
• John Piper on pastoral theology
• Bruce Ware on systematic theology
  

and others.

books for church planters

Resonate offers a number of church leaders' recommendations for books to read for church planters.

Some of those making recommendations are

• Alan Hirsch
• Brian McLaren
• Jonny Baker
• David Fitch
• Scot McKnight
• Andrew Jones

ht: steve mccoy