the gospel according to kanye west
Tue, Sep 7 2010 08:02 AM
| social media, jesus, theology, music, favorites, popular culture, current events
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few people would ever confuse kanye west for jesus christ.
except, well, kanye west.
famously, mr. west has one of the most unrestrained egos that we've seen in some time. yes, john lennon said the beatles were bigger than jesus christ, but kanye actually became jesus christ (seriously, click the link).
for the all the uproar the cover of rolling stone generated, nothing could compare, of course, to the outrage following the now-infamous imma-let-you-finish taylor swift moment at the 2009 mtv video music awards. the proverbial shit, indeed, hit the fan.
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weekend worship: reflections on the west memphis 3 rally
Tue, Aug 31 2010 07:51 AM
| personal, emergent, eikon, little rock, christian subculture, theology, favorites, arkansas, church, jesus, music, popular culture, current events, politics
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sunday night, we had one of my favorite worship gatherings to date at eikon church. there was a good energy, the music was unquestionably the best it's ever been and i think we really tapped into the heart of what it means to be a community of people connected by jesus. it was truly a beautiful night of worship.
and then there was that other worship gathering.
no, not the one i attended on sunday morning. and no, not some other church event i participated in some other time during the weekend.
i'm talking about the one saturday. at robinson center music hall.
yeah, that one.
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the tweet heard 'round the world: a few words about segregation and educational options
Mon, Aug 23 2010 09:04 AM
| christen, general life, personal, little rock, olive, christian subculture, theology, arkansas, lucy, family, popular culture, children, current events, max, politics
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By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled;
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard 'round the world.
so begin's ralph waldo's emerson 1837 masterpiece, concord hymn. the line that closes the stanza, of course, has become a cultural idiom. the shot heard 'round the world is in reference to the american revolutionary war, specifically the battles of lexington and concord. indeed, those shots reverberated around the globe and set our nation on a new course.
and then—on august 21, 2010—there was this:
worth not just a read, but extended reflection for LR people / RT @GOOD: Are students pre-segregated before high school? http://su.pr/9msbx1
ryanByrd
ryanbyrd
which was immediately followed by this:
in addition to what the @GOOD article says, it's also worth reflecting on "self-segregation" (parents who put their kids in private school).ryanByrd
ryanbyrd
ah yes, the tweet heard 'round the world.
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why we should stop letting black people live in the quapaw quarter
Mon, Aug 16 2010 07:56 AM
| personal, jesus, theology, family, popular culture, politics, current events
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our family moved, in early 2009, into the quapaw quarter (in little rock). we really enjoy being so close to downtown and our neighborhood is relatively quiet and friendly. there's a diversity of people here that you simply don't get in other parts of town.
but i'll get to that whole diversity thing briefly.
several months after moving in, we attended a 4th of july breakfast at the empress (our immediate neighbor) and had an opportunity to meet the large majority of our neighbors. i had a lengthy conversation with a man who, along with his wife of 30-something years, has lived in the quarter for well over 20 years. he offered a bit of history of the neighborhood and one particular story stood out among the others. he said that a little over 20 years ago, a gang of about 6 or 7 black guys jumped a white man (who lived in our neighborhood) while he was walking his dog. apparently the guy was pretty messed up and after a few days of intensive care, he died from internal bleeding. whereas several of the black guys were subsequently arrested, the two main leaders of the group got away and were never arrested.
he said, for obvious reasons, many people in the neighborhood were shaken up pretty badly and even after having some candlelight vigils and racial reconciliation-type conversations with some of the predominantly black churches in the area, tensions ran high.
he and i talked about some of the backlash and anger that, to this day, still exists in this neighborhood and we came up with only one logical conclusion.
ban black people from living in the quapaw quarter.
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anne rice's guide to quitting christianity and keeping jesus
Fri, Jul 30 2010 01:31 PM
| personal, church, emergent, jesus, eikon, quotes, christian subculture, theology, books, popular culture, writing, current events
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i've never read an anne rice book.
i've never seen an anne rice-adapted movie.
i've never been interested in vampires or books about vampires.
despite these things, though, i've been a distant and intrigued observer—over the last 10 years—as anne rice has come back to faith. growing up in the catholic church, at the age of 18, she left her faith in exchange for nearly 4 decades of ardent unbelief. after garnering legions of followers and authoring blockbuster books, she once again chose faith and for the past decade, she's been publishing books about the her faith and the life of christ.
but anne rice has never reached "christian celebrity" status like other celebrity purveyors of faith such as mel gibson, stephen baldwin or—god help us—chuck norris. despite her marked switch to literary works about the life of christ, she never seemed to fully embrace the prevailing values of white, evangelical culture, which is the key to unlocking full-on christian celebrity status.
well, the possibility of that status is official DOA.
anne rice is quitting christianity.
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beetles, shaved heads and "that time of the month": a look at biblical pragmatism
Wed, Jul 28 2010 08:01 AM
| church, emergent, jesus, christian subculture, theology, books
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let's talk menstruation, shall we?
ok, so we can talk about more than that, but certainly, it does play a part. we'll get to that later, though.
in the meantime, how about a little biblical interpretation to tide us over?
download my latest mix, 'good. evil.'
Tue, Jul 27 2010 07:58 AM
| jesus, christian subculture, theology, music, music you should know, favorites, popular culture, free stuff
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several days ago, a friend and i were talking about how ubiquitous religion is. obviously, we didn't stumble upon some kind of shocking revelation, but we certainly affirmed that—even more than what we may realize—the concepts of good and evil, gods and devils, dark and light are broadly washed across the expanse of global cultures. certainly, across ages and timezones, the ways that these things are expressed are varying, but nevertheless, the sentiments are consistent.
long on diagnosis, short on cure: remembering rob with don chaffer
Thu, Jul 22 2010 08:02 AM
| general life, personal, jesus, theology, music, music you should know, family, favorites
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time flies when you're having fun, right? well, what does time do when you're living in the wake of loss?
truth be told, time has flown and we're approaching 6 months since we lost rob. i was actually going to wait to write this until august 13—the 6 month anniversary of his death—but this is just one of these things that i need to write. now.
rob's been on my mind quite a bit lately and i think, more than anything, it was triggered by a don chaffer house show last friday night (which was great). don chaffer—1/2 of folk/worship/nebulous band waterdeep and one of my favorite artists—plays a significant role in my final memories of rob.
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counting sheep: one more thought about guns, fear and becoming a sheep
Fri, Jul 16 2010 08:02 AM
| general life, personal, church, jesus, christian subculture, theology, family
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ok, ok, i know: enough with the sheep, ryan. yes, there's only so much ryan-poo-poos-on-guns talk one can take. i get it. i swear. one last post. ;)
in the aftermath of my previous posts about guns and the culture of fear, i got quite a bit of feedback. it varied from people retweeting the link to posting it on facebook all the way to people sending me rambling, scrolling emails telling me i suck at life (not really…but sorta…) and a couple people bravely posting actual comments on the blog. what i was most struck by were the couple people who said something like the following: "if you had ever been affected by violence you would think differently" or "just wait 'til you get a gun pulled on you and i think you'll change your mind."
well, i have.
and i thought i'd share about my experiences.
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more sheepishness: a few thoughts about our culture of fear
Wed, Jul 14 2010 08:02 AM
| christen, general life, personal, olive, christian subculture, theology, church, jesus, lucy, family, popular culture, current events, max, politics
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the bible's a funny thing. and so is following that guy jesus.
at best, they're frustrating. at worst, they're maddening. even illogical. counterintuitive.
you see, in scripture, we're referred to as sheep. basically, mindless followers that roam without proper self defense or the ability to find the way on our own. we just sorta hang out with the flock and go where the shepherd leads.
we're sitting ducks. but, you know, in the sheepish kind of way. (a shmuck?)
quite frankly, sheep should be frightened.
but the bible's a funny thing.
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feeling sheepish: a few thoughts about concealed weapons in church
Mon, Jul 12 2010 07:54 AM
| personal, church, jesus, christian subculture, theology, family, popular culture, politics, current events
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If you're like most Americans, there's probably been a time in your life when you've been sitting in church, listening to a particularly ennui-inducing homily or enduring another warbly version of "Holy Holy Holy" and thought, "Man! I could really reach for some steel right now, squeeze off a few rounds, and let these fools know what the score is!" Well, in Louisiana, Governor Bobby Jindal has recently signed into law a measure that would allow you to at least feel comforted by the presence of your gun in the house of the Lord.
so begins a huffington post piece (sometimes you just gotta grab a great quote and use it…) about the newly-adopted law in louisiana that allows people to pack heat into houses of worship. yes, the good, god-fearing
god bless america.
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of max and men: teaching a boy to be a man
Sat, Jun 12 2010 08:53 AM
| christen, general life, personal, olive, lucy, christian subculture, theology, family, popular culture, children, max
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in the event that you've slept through the last several days or haven't read my blog (or decided to unfollow me in the midst of gratuitous labor tweeting…), baby byrd #3–max ryan byrd–squirted into this world on tuesday afternoon. weighing in just slightly under the minimum tonnage for aspiring sumo wrestlers, all 9 lbs, 3 oz of max has spent the last couple days acclimating to his new home. big sister olive and even bigger sister lucy have also been acclimating to having a new human being in their home, especially for the fact that this new human being is a little boy.
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in memoriam: the way of jesus remembered
Mon, May 31 2010 12:06 PM
| personal, jesus, chuch, christian subculture, theology, popular culture
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UPDATE (5/31/10 5:49 PM): i've come across several great posts regarding the crossroads of memorial day and jesus. one that particularly stood out was diana butler bass'memorial day: perspective from church history, in which she includes an excerpt from her recent book, a people's history of christianity. i thought a piece of it was worth adding here as a bit of an addendum. she writes:
Christians were not allowed to fight. No record exists that Christians served in the Roman army before 170. The strong consensus of the early church was that war meant killing, killing was murder, and murder was wrong. In the third century, Cyprian of Carthage noted: "The world is going mad in mutual bloodshed. And murder, which is considered a crime when people commit it singly, is transformed into a virtue when they do it en masse."
truly, these are words to remember as we reflect on a day like this.
-----------------------------------------------
today—memorial day—is a day in which we reflect on and honor all the men and women who have fought and died for the sake of the united states of america. their sacrifice has been enormous. to willingly lay down's one life for his or her country is a sacrifice that is truly unfathomable.
it's a sacrifice, quite frankly, that i am unwilling to make.
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raining misinterpretation: shining light on the most misunderstood scripture
i hate the rain. when the dark clouds begin to roll in, i have a sinking feeling. even more so than now, i particularly hated rain when i was a kid. rain meant no baseball game. it meant a ruined birthday party. it meant a soggy wait at the bus stop. even now, though, it means muddy little footprints from the girls. it means poor driving conditions. most importantly, though, it means unintentional puddle baths for my birkenstock-clad feet.
i'm not alone. culturally, we just generally hate rain. studies have shown that business productivity drops on rainy days and we even have phrases—such as "don't rain on my parade"—that offer a pejorative connotation of rain. which leads us to biblical interpretation, naturally. ok, maybe not naturally, but it certainly does shine a light on something i've been thinking about recently.
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loving your enemies: a few words on criticism by don miller
Wed, May 26 2010 08:07 AM
| videos, personal, jesus, eikon, chuch, christian subculture, theology, family
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as i've shared before here on the blog, since starting the church over the last year or so, i've fought a consistently and surprisingly difficult battle with self doubt and criticism from others. sadly, it seems to just come with the territory of pastoring and particularly, it seems, church planting. in a post back in february, i shared about this struggle, saying the following:
much to my surprise, over the last half a year, i've fought a very tough battle with intense self doubt and bad case of trampled ego. i've always been the type to disallow the actions or words or critiques of others to shape my inner self, but taking the lead in a church planting project has revealed a new layer of emotions and personal battles. what you were certain of a day ago is now fodder for intense personal scrutiny and doubt.
the religion of atheism: how disbelief has become dogma
Mon, May 24 2010 01:35 PM
| videos, t.v., emergent, jesus, eikon, chuch, christian subculture, theology, current events
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over the last several years, more and more, i've attempted to engage the world around me with a continual spirit of humility. simply put, i try to live by the mantra, i might be wrong. undoubtedly, i fail often. i fight the urge to be right. it's difficult to accept when others can't just adopt my viewpoint. it's easier to clone than to create.
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jakob dylan talks hebrews 11
Fri, May 21 2010 07:59 AM
| jesus, theology, music, music you should know, favorites, popular culture
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over the last couple months, i've found myself regularly hitting repeat on what i consider one of the best albums of 2010. jakob dylan's sophomore effort, women and country, is a sonic stroll through equal parts folk, western, rock and even pop sensibilities. much like his father, dylan explores everything from american folklore to love to social issues. naturally, though, what i find particularly intriguing is some of the subtle (and even not-so-subtle) references to matters of faith and spirituality. whereas jakob dylan is far from his father's deep and outspoken points-of-view, he certainly isn't afraid to draw rich spiritual metaphors and allusions.
agreeing to disagree, pt. 2: principles of civil discourse from don miller
Wed, May 5 2010 08:02 AM
| general life, personal, church, emergent, jesus, christian subculture, theology, popular culture, politics, current events, lists
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yesterday, i posted some thoughts on the phrase, we'll just have to agree to disagree, referencing the following tweet by @midrash_lr:
my basic premise, of course, was that while i agree with the fundamental value inherent in his statement, it's a bit utopian. there are simply times when the conversation devolves into something other than a healthy exchange when one or both people cease to work within the spirit of mutual respect and learning.
Let's end, "We'll have to agree to disagree." This ends the convo. Instead let's try "good men can disagree" & ctn the convo.
midrash_lr
midrash_lr
my basic premise, of course, was that while i agree with the fundamental value inherent in his statement, it's a bit utopian. there are simply times when the conversation devolves into something other than a healthy exchange when one or both people cease to work within the spirit of mutual respect and learning.
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agreeing to disagree: exploring the limits of social engagement
Tue, May 4 2010 08:04 AM
| general life, personal, church, emergent, eikon, christian subculture, theology, popular culture, politics, current events
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we all know the common saying, we'll just have to agree to disagree, at least in some iteration. of course, the phrase is used when two people feel like they've reached a point in the conversation where the wheels are spinning, but it's really going nowhere. no doubt, i've uttered this saying numerous times, particularly as of late.
rampant religion roundup: lifeway christian stores, jennifer knapp and johnny piper
Fri, Apr 23 2010 02:38 PM
| rant, christen, church, news, emergent, jesus, eikon, theology, music, favorites, popular culture, current events
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last month, the calvinist legions of bloggers hit the interwebs to lambast their chosen messiah, john piper, for what they viewed as a theological slap in the face. piper did the (apparently) unthinkable and invited rick warren to be one of the featured speakers at his desiring god 2010 national conference (in addition to speakers such as the SBC godfather al mohler and the treading-on-thin-ice-because-now-you're-making-films-with-that-rob-bell-company francis chan).
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praise the lord!: in pursuit of the american dream
Tue, Apr 20 2010 07:57 AM
| personal, church, emergent, jesus, confessions, christian subculture, theology, popular culture, politics
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a couple days, i had a twitter conversation (or as much as you can possibly have on twitter) with a good friend about the concept of amassing wealth and living "comfortably". specifically, the following values (in the context of "personal responsibility") were offered by him: "saving for retirement, living comfortably w/in means, & taking care of the poor." my response was twofold. the first:
sounds good in theory. problem, though, is 2 of those are american values & only 1 is a jesus value.
his response:
so you're going to give away ALL your $ & not pay bills or for food or shelter? Our difference of opinion is bible interpretation.
to which i replied:
poor interpretation is what has led hordes of really well-intentioned people to chase the american dream instead of jesus.
ding! ding! ding! fighters return to your corners! ;)
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letting go: jennifer knapp confirms she's gay to christianity today
Wed, Apr 14 2010 07:58 AM
| news, emergent, confessions, eikon, christian subculture, theology, music you should know, favorites, church, jesus, music, popular culture, current events
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on a fateful day in 1999, fragile, protected-from-the-evils-of-the-world christians learned of the shock and horror they previously thought unimaginable: amy grant, darling of contemporary christian music, got divorced.
gasp!
shockwaves (yes, i too wish i was exaggerating) rippled through baptist churches from sea to shining sea. after cd-burning parties, a healthy dose of potluck dinner gossip and legions of once-diehard fans disowning their christian pop princess, the lingering effects of a fallen angel still remain in some corners of christendom today.
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watch and download rob bell's latest film, 'resurrection'
Sun, Apr 4 2010 01:24 PM
| videos, personal, church, emergent, jesus, eikon, christian subculture, theology, worship, favorites, free stuff, websites
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there are few sure bets in this world. yes, we can count on nic cage being just a little more creepy in his next film than the last. and yes, we can count on—regardless of years of reason to believe the previously stated fact—hordes of people flocking to the theater to see said next film. but otherwise, very few things, indeed, are worth betting the farm on.
enter rob bell stage left.
apple to fox news: you keep your glenn, we keep our money
Thu, Apr 1 2010 08:02 AM
| personal, t.v., emergent, theology, popular culture, politics
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it isn't rare to find me applauding the efforts of apple. simply put, they have a superior line of products. in terms of everything from hardware to the operating system to overall innovation, it isn't difficult to understand why, year in and year out, apple is voted by peers as the most admired company.
but in this case, my applause and admiration is for something, ultimately, more important than just computers or phones or product beauty. in a bold statement, apple has decided to boycott fox news by withholding millions of advertising dollars.
why? look no further than our pal glenn beck.
faith without politics is dead
Tue, Mar 30 2010 04:24 PM
| personal, church, technology, emergent, jesus, eikon, christian subculture, theology, politics, current events
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that's what the scriptures say, right? faith without politics is dead? like 2 peas in a pod. like peanut butter and jelly. like ren and stimpy.
ok, so maybe the bible says something about works… but come on, my phrase is much catchier and scintillating, right? you know, despite its surface-layer inaccuracies, i actually want to dive into that concept a little and show that i think the two are far from mutually exclusive.
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what your pastor will (likely) never say publicly or to you privately
Wed, Feb 3 2010 12:46 PM
| general life, personal, church, jesus, eikon, confessions, christian subculture, theology
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life rarely offers those moments where the world literally fades away, blurring at the peripheral edges, and you're left with just you and one other person speaking words directly into your innermost places that no one sees. at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, that very scenario transpired last july in a performance hall in grand rapids, michigan. sitting in a crowd of a couple thousand people, words, thoughts, ideas floated in space and settled somewhere deep within me and unlocked something that would continue to resonate half a year later.
orthodoxy vs. monodoxy
Mon, Jan 11 2010 10:01 AM
| personal, church, emergent, jesus, eikon, christian subculture, theology
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here's a little something i wrote over on the eikon blog. as we're still in the initial phase of connecting and sharing our values prior to our official start day (which is coming very, very soon…), a recent tweet prompted me to further flesh out our perspective on the nature of orthodoxy and shared beliefs.
so, enjoy.
so, enjoy.
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dissolution of marriage: a case for a church-state separation
Tue, Jan 5 2010 07:49 AM
| personal, church, emergent, jesus, eikon, christian subculture, theology, politics, current events
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yesterday on his blog, tony jones made a case for clergy stepping back in their roles as state-sanctioned marriage officiants. you can certainly read his thoughts about it here (and he goes in many other thoughtful directions that i'm not necessarily pursuing in this post), but i thought i would add a few thoughts to the subject. whereas i don't want to simply retread his points, i do want to underscore the thought and offer a bit more perspective.
in essence, clergy are the legal binding signature required for the state to recognize a marriage, thus granting special tax status and other distinctive legal considerations. ultimately, that means that clergy work as an agent of the state. they are explicitly partner to a state-sanctioned role and office. the problem as jones argues—and i would concur—is that throughout christian tradition, those in the role of priest or clergy were generally regarded as the ones who were oppositional (or at least suspicious) of the government powers that be. to further the argument, many argue (and make a strong, reasonable argument) that one of jesus' primary missions was to offer/model a way of living that freed people from the oppression of government systems (particularly, at that time, the roman government).
in essence, clergy are the legal binding signature required for the state to recognize a marriage, thus granting special tax status and other distinctive legal considerations. ultimately, that means that clergy work as an agent of the state. they are explicitly partner to a state-sanctioned role and office. the problem as jones argues—and i would concur—is that throughout christian tradition, those in the role of priest or clergy were generally regarded as the ones who were oppositional (or at least suspicious) of the government powers that be. to further the argument, many argue (and make a strong, reasonable argument) that one of jesus' primary missions was to offer/model a way of living that freed people from the oppression of government systems (particularly, at that time, the roman government).
25 in the 2000s: things that shaped the aughts
Sun, Dec 27 2009 04:24 PM
| personal, t.v., technology, news, christian subculture, theology, music, popular culture, iphone, politics, current events, lists
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this is final post in an ongoing series called 25 in the 2000s. if you want a bit of information about the series, you can find the introduction here.
in another blogger's recent appraisal of the past decade, it was described as "the decade that snuck up on us." his main thesis was that the decade started off very well, with relative peace and tranquility. and then…9/11. from there, we've seen war, political scandal and various disease outbreaks. but the blogger concludes that, all in all, the decade has seen more light than dark. i share that point-of-view and look back rather fondly. both personally and in terms of news-worthy moments, i think it's been a decade worth remembering. in remembering, i decided to compile a list of anything that in any way shaped the decade. so, these aren't just news stories or technological advances or any specific "category" of list item. these are simply things that shaped the aughts.
a few thoughts concerning the shane montgomery arrest
Fri, Dec 11 2009 08:06 PM
| personal, church, news, little rock, jesus, eikon, christian subculture, theology, current events
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today has been a day full of assorted and disparate emotions. this morning, like many of you, i learned of yesterday's arrest of shane montgomery, the now-resigned church planter/pastor of the river church. while most people know the story at this point, in essence, shane has been accused of (and, according to some sources citing the arrest report, admitted to) sexual contact with a 15-year old male who he met online this past summer.
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25 in the 2000s: religious stories
Sun, Nov 29 2009 01:29 PM
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this is part of an ongoing series called 25 in the 2000s. if you want a bit of information about the series, you can find the introduction here.
it seem as if the last 10 years have been a particularly explosive and salient time in the world of religion. from a new pope to the brazen use of religion in political campaigns to the culture of islamic suspicion since 9/11, religion has been at the forefront of conversation and headlines. in the following list, i'll talk about the good, the bad and the ugly of the decade in religion.
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25 in the 2000s: an introduction
Sat, Nov 28 2009 10:00 AM
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the year: 1999. your shopping list: several flash lights, 4 or 5 large packs of batteries, a few cases of bottled water, nonperishable food items, a swiss army knife and several boxes of zombie repellant.
why? y2k, of course.
yes, in 1999, the world prepared itself for the certain meltdown of all that we had previously known as organized civilization. now, we find ourselves in 2009—a decade later—still waiting for the world to come to a screeching halt. while we're waiting, though, i thought it would be a good time to bask in what has been a great decade: the aughts.
from the eikon blog: a day of eucharist
here's a little something i wrote over on the eikon blog and rather than trying to force the obligatory, "what i'm thankful for..." post, i thought i'd just reblog what i wrote there.
so, happy thanksgiving.
so, happy thanksgiving.
pro-abortion, anti-communion: when religion becomes a weapon
Wed, Nov 25 2009 08:47 AM
| personal, church, emergent, jesus, eikon, christian subculture, theology, worship, politics
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religion can be used as a lot of things. it can be used as a way to bring seemingly disparate people together. it can be used as a mode of transcendent conversation. it can be used as a way to connect thousands of years of generations of people and to bring hope to people who might otherwise feel hopeless. certainly, it can be used for many, many great and noble things.
but it can also be used in very dangerous and divisive ways.
sadly, those who choose to use religion as a weapon of politics has become more and more frequent and severe.
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do you f*#@ing love bacon!!??: a religious flowchart
Tue, Nov 24 2009 02:17 PM
| church, eikon, humor, christian subculture, theology, websites
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over on the blog of john hardin, john posted a great religious flowchart from holy taco. so, which religion should you follow??
pulaski academy, marching bands |||amp; the new racism
Fri, Nov 13 2009 08:11 AM
| rant, general life, personal, little rock, theology, family, popular culture
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when i saw, on the arkansas blog, the teaser, "A local blogger has written—unhappily—that Pulaski Academy won't send its band to a football playoff game in Helena-West Helena", i thought this was going to be a flashback to 1993 when the conway high school football team lost to pine bluff in the state championship game. after a searing defeat, some conway fans looked for a direction in which their finger could point. of all places, they found the band, saying that their minimal playing caused the team to lose. yes, you read that correctly: the band's lack of horns and drums and cymbals. so when i saw this headline, i thought i was in for the same disbelief from nearly 16 years ago.
that, though, is not what i discovered.
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anne pressly |||amp; curtis vance: the uncomfortable unspoken reality
Thu, Nov 12 2009 08:00 AM
| news, little rock, theology
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for this post, i'm working under the assumption that most of you know the story of the rape and murder of little rock news anchor anne pressly. it's a heartbreaking and deeply saddening story that received a little closure today with the announcement that vance was found guilty of all charges.
as a father to two daughters, i can't begin to imagine what it would be like to be anne pressly's parents and family. the deep, deep pain would be unbearable and it would be difficult to maintain any semblance of a normal life. it's honestly hard for me to think about it as i write this.
on the other hand, though, as i watch all the coverage of the trial, i keep coming back to one particular thing: i have a deep sense of sorrow that goes out to curtis vance and his family.
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when churches attack!: scaring the hell out of the masses, pt. 2
last week, on halloween, i blogged about the phenomenon over the last 20-30 years of churches putting on what's commonly known as hell houses. to put it lightly, i didn't really give them a glowing endorsement. :) you can read it in its entirety here.
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when churches attack!: scaring the hell out of the masses
wanna talk eternity? hell yes?
hell no, actually.
tonight, across the country, there's a wave of church productions that will be saying no to hell as well. eternity house. hell house. i'm sure there are other names than those out there, but maybe you've heard of one of these in some similar iteration.
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a solution to the little rock homeless problem: let them die
on any given day, there are thousands of people living in the streets of little rock. we have to walk by them. we have to hear them ask for money. we have to cross to the other side of the street when we see them ahead. we have to feel guilty when we drive by in our hard-earned suv.
it's a real problem.
so, i'm offering a solution: let them die.
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friedrich nietzsche was exactly right about christianity
indeed, friedrich nietzsche was exactly right about christianity.
well, not about everything. but certainly, he got a few things right.
while i have had the, um, pleasure of dabbling into a very small amount of nietzsche's philosophies during my time at the seminary (mostly in relation to moral/faith development), i don't claim to be an exhaustive authority on all things nietzsche. what i can say, though, is that nietzsche, among others who have offered critiques, spoke very sharply about a certain notion of god and christianity. i'm not saying that he particularly liked some other notion of god, but it seems fairly clear that nietzsche primarily responded to a certain brand of god that didn't seem compatible with philosophical modes of engaging/viewing people and the world around him. (some have even argued that in spite of his famous god is dead declaration that nietzsche wasn't an atheist, though i digress.)
join me in saying 'no!' to public libraries!
as i've stated several times here on the blog and to anyone that was willing to let me co-opt their ears, i'm a HUGE proponent of not only health care reform, but specifically, a public option (actually, i'm in favor of a single-payer system, but i'll leave it at that). sadly, it appears that the tide of crazies have won the debate and a public option looks like a distant memory.
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the gospel according to breaking bad's walter white
less than two weeks ago, i could tell you 1 fact about amc's emmy-winning drama, breaking bad: it was called breaking bad. oh wait, one more: it was on amc. i was pretty sure.since that time, i've devoured approximately 20 hours of the show, comprised of 7 season one episodes and 13 season two episodes.my initial response to this acknowledgement (or confession, if you will) might be that i was totally
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sneaking in jesus: the amazing atheist gets it right
Fri, Sep 25 2009 04:17 PM
| videos, church, christian subculture, theology
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several years ago, rob bell, in velvet elvis, made a statement that i have often repeated: truth is everywhere.indeed.in the bible. in the quran. in the vedas. in the words of a prophet of crete (which paul quotes in his epistle to titus). truth is, in fact, everywhere.sometimes truth doesn't only come in "sacred" texts or reverent means of communication. sometimes truth comes in strange, bizarre,
the creation conflict: don miller talks community
i posted this earlier on the eikon blog and i thought it was worth sharing here.several years ago, someone made a statement that i have repeated many times since and has shaped my view of god and others: isolation is the enemy of god.there's a lot going on in that statement and today, in a live-streamed talk by don miller, i was once again reminded of that declaration.miller—author of the best-selling
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jennifer knapp releases new track, letting go
Fri, Sep 18 2009 04:34 PM
| christian subculture, theology, music, websites
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last week, i blogged about the mysterious return of jennifer knapp. with very little details, her re-entrance was just as clouded as her disappearance.well, we have now heard from her—both in word and song. on her website, she has posted a letter to fans, stating that she has been traveling and discovering "more about myself and my own faith".if you don't know her music, i would describe it as the
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the theology of killing: jesus and our brother romell broom
right now, at the southern ohio correctional facility in lucasville, ohio, 53-year old romell broom is awaiting his execution.for the second time.yesterday afternoon, an "execution team" (wow...there's a team we can all rally behind...) spent over 2 hours trying to find a usable vein that would accept the IVs that carry the 3 lethal chemicals that induce death. each time the executioners attempted
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smashing assumptions: billy corgan talks god
this appeared on the eikon blog yesterday and i thought i would repost it here. enjoy.last week, billy corgan—of smashing pumpkins fame—launched a new website, everything from here to there. in his first post, corgan expresses the purpose of the site, stating,The purpose of this website is to discuss openly and without fear concepts of Mind-Body-Soul integration. If you are drawn to the Hidden
jennifer knapp, the amazing disappearing woman, set for a comeback
Tue, Sep 8 2009 03:39 PM
| theology, music, 90's, music you should know
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last week, I posted news about derek webb's announcement that the original members of caedmon's call have been writing and recording a new album (which is tentatively set to release some time in 2010). now, another late-90's breakout christian musician has re-entered the conversation: jennifer knapp.jennifer knapp released the critically aclaimed, kansas in 1998, ushering in a new sound that blended
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watch the first 13 minutes of 'collision: christopher hitchens vs. douglas wilson"
Sun, Sep 6 2009 07:06 PM
| videos, church, movies, emergent, christian subculture, theology
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on october 27, collision: christopher hitchins vs. douglas wilson releases to dvd and limited theater runs in major markets. hitchens—self-described anti-theist, political journalist and author of the best-selling god is not great—in 2007, engaged in series of written correspondence with wilson—author, satirist and evangelical theologian—debating whether or not christianity is good for the
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from the eikon blog: bazan breakup?
Fri, Sep 4 2009 10:10 AM
| reviews, personal, church, emergent, eikon, christian subculture, theology, music, music you should know
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i wrote this piece for the eikon blog yesterday and i thought it was worth sharing here. david bazan's new album, curse your branches, is a truly incredible album and asks a lot of hard, but necessary questions. so, enjoy.-----------------------------------------------You've heard the storyYou know how it goesOnce upon a gardenWe were lovers with no clothesFresh from the soilWe were beautiful and trueIn
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an open letter to those who have been burned by church
Tue, Sep 1 2009 08:56 PM
| rant, personal, church, emergent, eikon, confessions, christian subculture, theology, popular culture
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thanks to a tweet from @emergentvillage, i came across a great blog post from curtis honeycutt (@curtishoneycutt) today speaking to—as the title suggests—those who have been burned by church. it's a beautiful, vulnerable, honest conversation with an ever-growing group of people. so, if you've ever felt put off, not by jesus, but by the church, take a minute to read this. curtis, no doubt, shares
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of prophets |||amp; pundits: a few words about criticism
Fri, Aug 28 2009 12:35 PM
| personal, church, emergent, christian subculture, theology, music, music you should know
| permalink
despite a couple bunch of interruptions, many of you have kept up with my track-by-track analysis of derek webb's latest (and arguably greatest) album, stockholm syndrome. while this post serves as yet another break in the series, I thought a recent conversation was a fitting interruption.whereas I usually refrain from and frown upon broad prefaces and disclaimers on blogs, let me offer a genuine disclaimer
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drops like sketchnoting: rob bells talks creativity and suffering
rob bell just kicked off a new speaking tour called drops like stars (which i hope to attend some time in the fall). the tour and the corresponding book deal with something that, to me particularly, is a fascinating topic: the inherent link between suffering and creating. without too much detail, it simply looks amazing.i stumbled across the blog of designer mike rohde who was in attendance for the
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move over pat robertson: john piper talks gay tornadoes
Thu, Aug 20 2009 11:09 PM
| rant, personal, church, emergent, christian subculture, theology
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the internet was sucked into a swirling vortex of crazy today: john piper blogged. oh, john piper didn't just blog about any ol' thing. he blogged about tornadoes. wait, not just any tornado. piper blogged about the gay tornado. you know, the one god sent to wipe out the 2009 assembly of the evangelical lutheran church yesterday in minneapolis. duh.ok, a quick background might be helpful. over the
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brian mclaren: an open letter on healthcare to conservative christians
i would have titled this rant 3, but this isn't a rant at all (unlike rant 1 and rant 2...). this is a thoughtful, seemingly prayerful olive branch extended by brian mclaren. many people won't be able to get past the first two words of my title—brian mclaren (which he basically acknowledges)—but for those who choose to read it, i think it's exactly what i'd like to say if i would pause in my moments
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to the dave ramsey disciples: beware of moths and rust
Fri, Aug 7 2009 10:00 PM
| theology, family, popular culture
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for many people, dave ramsey—christian financial author and radio personality—is a financial messiah. he has droves of ardent disciples and masses of ready-and-willing evangelists. try googling something having to do with dave ramsey criticism and you'll quickly find blogs or forums in which hordes of his disciples adamantly tell the critic why ramsey is the next best thing to the second coming
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derek webb's stockholm syndrome: the spirit vs. the kick drum
Mon, Aug 3 2009 04:07 PM
| recommendations, personal, quotes, theology, music, music you should know, favorites, politics
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this is the third post in an ongoing blog series in which i go, track-by-track, through derek webb's new album, stockholm syndrome. here's a list of past posts:1. black eye2. cobra con-------------------------------------------throughout stockholm syndrome, webb weaves a series of poetic lyrics that dig beneath the surface of the obvious. it's not so much that the meaning is veiled as much as it doesn't
god resigns, appoints assistant ashley to god
Thu, Jul 30 2009 03:02 PM
| humor, theology, popular culture
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here's a piece from the never-disappointing mcsweeney's. we learn several things here, some we knew, some we didn't: god gave us mario batali (we knew this) and that's god's assistant is named ashley and she will now be our acting god (we did not know this).enjoy.GOD'S RESIGNATION SPEECH.BY LUCAS KAVNER- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dear World,I appreciate speaking
barna group research on homosexual faith perspectives
Wed, Jul 29 2009 02:24 PM
| church, emergent, quotes, christian subculture, theology, popular culture, websites, current events
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I read a fairly vast array of blogs. all the way from tony jones to even, yes, mark driscoll. i read the cry of social justice from the sojourners blog all the way to the calvinist smorgasbord of tim challies. on the more conservative wing of the blog spectrum, i semi-regularly read ed stetzer's (director of research for the evil empire lifeway) blog. stetzer—coming from a research point-of-view—is
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derek webb's stockholm syndrome: cobra con
Sun, Jul 26 2009 11:34 AM
| recommendations, personal, quotes, theology, music, music you should know, favorites, politics
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this is the second post in an ongoing blog series in which i go, track-by-track, through derek webb's new album, stockholm syndrome. here's a list of past posts:1. black eye-------------------------------------------after positing his theological presupposition for the entire album (that the church has become a willing and endeared participant in its captivity), webb begins to lay out a defense of
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new series: derek webb's stockholm syndrome track-by-track
Fri, Jul 24 2009 01:43 PM
| recommendations, personal, quotes, theology, music, music you should know, favorites, politics
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i suck at blog series.i mean, i really do. i've tried and while some work, most don't. they usually fizzle out or i get distracted by something else.BUT, i'm going to right this ship and start a new blog series because it's something i'm really passionate about and i think could be of interest to my legions thousands hundreds tens of blog readers.starting with this post, i'm going to be blogging through
my feeble attempt to avoid a rant: healthcare reform.
here's your mission: spend 5 minutes talking to me about politics or general social justice issues and see if i can make it without a passionate/frustrated rant about the status of our healthcare system.unfortunately for you, this is sort of like a casino: the house is designed to always win. maybe you hit the jackpot once in a million tries, but the odds are stacked against you.i just can't talk about
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you are what you eat: john calvin, tony campolo and logical conclusions
let's begin with a cliché, shall we?you are what you eat.it's cliché because it's true. certainly we become what we consume. or, maybe more to the point, we are externally what we are internally.it doesn't take long in reading my blog or having ongoing theological conversations with me to find that tony campolo has greatly shaped the way i engage theology, scripture and others. the consumption of
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poets, prophets and preachers: what else do you want to hear?
with the overwhelming amount of information i consumed at poets, prophets and preachers, i could easily blog about it for the next 6 months (that's barely an exaggeration). i'm gonna go out on a limb and say that most people would soon grow weary...so, i looked back over my notes and i thought i might just put up a list of words and phrases and thoughts that had special significance. here's what you
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poets, prophets and preachers: chocolate covered turds and death by paper cuts
much like with my last post concerning poets, prophets and preachers, it's very difficult to distill the overwhelming and transformative information that was presented into a single, readable blog post. so, once again, i'm choosing a particular session that had significant insights and personal meaning to me.in this case, it was the final session called The One Thing I’ve Never Heard Someone Talk
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poets, prophets and preachers: the beginning is the end is the beginning
well, day 2. poets, prophets and preachers. rob bell. peter rollins. shane hipps.wow.for a quick background of where i am and what i'm doing, you might want to return to yesterday's blog post.it's been in many ways an overwhelming brain pummeling of just mounds of incredible and transformative information. in other ways, though, it's been such a refreshing swim in the waters of escape and re-energizing
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in route: poets, prophets and preachers
right now, I'm approximately 31,000 feet in the air, listening to a playlist consisting of mewithoutyou, elvis costello's new album & unreleased michael jackson tracks and staring down at the most incredible fluffy white clouds (p.s. I just mistyped 'white' & my iPhone corrected it to 'whore'…). no, I'm not high or hallucinating… i'm on a plane to grand rapids, michigan.i'm heading to a
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quote of the day: the wisdom of parker palmer
i've read a couple of parker palmer's books (the courage to teach and to know as we are known) and they were both deeply transformative and spiritually enlightening. his latest book, a hidden wholeness: the journey toward an undivided life, looks to be another great one worth reading.i came across a quote from the book on zach lind's blog, finding rhythm. it's an incredible quote that is common from
derek webb stockholm syndrome update: new track released - what matters more
Fri, Jul 3 2009 08:29 PM
| church, emergent, christian subculture, theology, music, music you should know, favorites
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as we speak, i'm sulkingly watching a twitter feed following the search term "derek webb". why? because tonight was the big climax to the big derek webb marketing/controversy/scavenger hunt thing, which culminated in a secret show at the rutledge in nashville. the big surprise, apparently, was that webb had vans ready (so it seems from people's semi-vague tweets) to take people back to his home (where
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from the eikon blog: the question of art and accuracy
i thought i'd take a quick moment to tell you that if you're not already reading it regularly, you should go check out the eikon blog. i just put up a new post about art, faith, truth and "accuracy" that i think is worth reading (if i do say so myself...).as a bit of a teaser, here's a piece of art by david lachapelle that i discuss:so, go check it out!alright, as you were.
the god of the bottom
Mon, Jun 29 2009 07:23 PM
| church, emergent, eikon, christian subculture, theology, books
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while i'm not necessarily suggesting some kind of weird, mystic thought connectivity, it certainly seems as if god uses streams of interconnected pieces of thinking to foster my own theological growth and investigation. over the last several days, that very thing has occurred.several days ago, i listened to a podcast that featured an interview with len sweet, a self-described theologian, author and
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simply put, today i got censored.
yeah, i got censored.seriously, i got censored today. what's best is that i didn't even know they were going to do it until it actually happened.when it happened, i was actually very angry. angry not only because it was a complete blind-side, but because the reason it was done, ironically and fittingly, was something, more or less, that i was talking about in my sermon.here's the story:this morning,
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father's day thoughts: count your blessings...or curses...
let's talk a little father's day theology.today is a great day. as stated, it's father's day. for me, as the father of two beautiful little girls, this day is less about being honored and recognized and more about me stopping to think about how beautiful and incredible my daughters are and the impact they have on my life. i've certainly done that today.one thing i notice, though, is that days like
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postmodernity according to gillian welch and madonna
Sat, Jun 13 2009 12:55 PM
| emergent, theology, music, popular culture
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chalk this up as my absolutely random post of the week. hey, it's saturday, why not?quite some time ago, i discovered a hilarious children's book being published by paste magazine called an indie rock alphabet book. basically, each page pairs up a letter with an indie artist and makes some quirky rhyming sentence. for example, birthdays, puppy dogs, breakfast in bed...nothing could be better than radiohead.
quote of the day: death of emergent?
in the last couple days, the ripples from a blog post by nick fiedler (of the nick & josh podcast) has swept through the emergent blogosphere. his post, titled the great disappointment (a post about emergent) basically expressed his disappointment with returning to the states after spending a significant time traveling abroad and feeling like emergent had somewhat stagnated.naturally, it stirred
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dick, sotomayor and gay marriage
Tue, Jun 2 2009 10:40 PM
| theology, popular culture, politics, current events
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just a couple days ago, i blogged about obama's supreme court nomination of judge sonia sotomayor. if you read that or have paid even an ounce of attention over the last several days, you'll know that there's been quite a bit of controversy and strong reaction over comments she made 8 years ago about her the judicial benefit of her experience as a self-described "newyorkrican."in essence, what has
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supreme court nominee sotomayor: facts vs. experience vs. truth
Sun, May 31 2009 04:41 PM
| emergent, theology, popular culture, politics
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let me be very clear: i know very little about supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor. here's what i do know, though:1. her name sounds like a character from some kind of international spy movie. i'm thinking like some kind of unassuming hispanic housewife turned international spy. there would be plenty of shooting poisoning russians and maybe even some kind of battle with polish hackers...2. white
knock knock: jesus and the other jesus
Tue, May 26 2009 10:04 PM
| church, emergent, christian subculture, theology
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i don't like to begin posts with these types of disclaimers, but, more and more, i find a certain segment of my readership, shall we say, likes to assume the worst about things i write. so, the following is not a condemnation of any other churches or lofty claims about my own spirituality. hopefully, i'm approaching this with a matthew 7:4 type of attitude... so, here goes.let's talk revelation. :)
the common
for quite some time, there's been a bit of a debate—primarily in the blogosphere—about whether or not true community can happen online. moreover, some have argued that not only can a true sense of community not happen online, but that virtual forms of "community"—like blogs, twitter, facebook, etc—actually work to kill true community.i tend to fall somewhere in the middle of the debate. whereas
one nation, seven sins
Wed, May 6 2009 08:34 PM
| church, christian subculture, theology, popular culture
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we've all heard—whether it be in the movie seven or through popular culture references or maybe even your sunday school class when you were 10—about the "seven deadly sins." they are, of course, lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. [interestingly, as a sidenote, the seven deadly sins isn't actually a biblical concept. whereas we can find seven "abominations" in proverbs 6, for example,
from the eikon blog: organic community
Mon, May 4 2009 10:13 PM
| church, emergent, eikon, christian subculture, theology, blog stuff
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hello all,thought i'd take a quick moment to implore you to check out the eikon blog if you haven't before or check back if it's been awhile. i just put up a post about organic community and a bit about what that means.also, we're about to begin work on the real deal eikon website (finally), so that should be exciting. keep checking in on the eikon blog for news on that.alright, as you were.
an ethic of fear and muslim baby-making
Sat, May 2 2009 08:30 PM
| videos, church, little rock, christian subculture, theology
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i've had plenty of gripe moments on twitter about this issue, but i thought—after being sent a link to a youtube video—that i might explore it a little more closely (more on the video ahead). specifically, it's what i'm calling an "ethic of fear". by that, i mean living life in a way that fear makes your decisions. fear sets your agenda. it tells you where to go and where not to go. it determines
of gays and gods: thoughts about closed-ended questions
how's that for a title of a post?? :)there are two responses to questions that are absolutely unhelpful: yes and no.these answers do very little to engage a thoughtful dialogue and ongoing conversation. they're highly sought out, though, given a culture—highly prevalent within the church—of closed-ended questions.closed-ended questions are questions that elicit a single word reponse: either yes
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two futures: a call for nuclear disarmament
Wed, Apr 29 2009 09:54 PM
| videos, personal, emergent, christian subculture, theology, politics
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it's no mystery to my regular blog readers: i'm anti-war.under any circumstances.let me offer a singular reason for this proclamation, from which many other reasons flow.i follow jesus and i believe the things he said.that could be the end.but, there's more.even in the event that the world is at peace in regards to physically fighting a war (which i don't foresee for a very long time), it still doesn't
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god is not a white man
Wed, Apr 29 2009 09:38 PM
| videos, church, emergent, humor, christian subculture, theology, music
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well, i don't think this post/video will be nearly as provocative as the title suggests. although, it is certainly the content of said post/video.the michael gungor band—who, quite honestly, i know very little about—has released a video for a song called white man. in it, they declare, in fact, that god isn't a white man. neither is he an old man or even a man. they go on to make various declarations
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life update: life behind bars and ONE notes
wow, it's been over a week—9 days to be exact—since i've graced the ol' blog with a new post.so, i'd like to offer myself a hearty 'welcome back.'alright, now that i've had a public internal conversation with myself, let's move on...i thought i would give you an idea of what's been going on with my life which has prevented me from blogging in this span of time. (many, many things have been going,
thoughts on the death and resurrection of jesus
you know, i started writing a lengthy piece about the significance of the death and resurrection of jesus and while it would have been fun and hopefully informative, i thought there was some content already out there in the blogosphere (and beyond) that was worth sharing.tony jones wrote a couple posts—why jesus died and why jesus rose—in which he attempts to offer a "minority" view of the atoning
will ferrell prays to diet slice-drinking jesus
Sat, Apr 11 2009 12:16 PM
| videos, humor, christian subculture, theology, favorites, politics
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a few weeks ago, will ferrell's broadway act, you're welcome america: a final night with george w. bush aired on hbo. i just now got a chance to watch it yesterday. and it. was. hysterical.now, let me just pause and make a big disclaimer. while it was amazingly hysterical, there are certainly things in it that would be deeply offensive to some of my readers (including language and very graphic images...graphic
sara watkins: give me jesus
right now, i've got a lot on my plate. i'm not really stressed out about it, although given the mound of crap, i probably should be. :)in these times, though, of juggling a lot of "important" things—ministry/church-related things, specifically—i need something like this.so, if you're experiencing a lot of stress or you need a break from the grind, here's a little musical offering:sara watkins:
theology thursday
Thu, Apr 9 2009 07:10 PM
| church, emergent, eikon, christian subculture, theology, popular culture
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this weekend, people who follow in the way of christ celebrate a very pivotal and unparalleled day known, of course, as easter. over the last several weeks, in conjunction with the lead-up to easter, there's been quite a bit of social and cultural commentary related to matters of faith.my office is a great place because it's sort of a microcosm of society and culture. while we have a lot of young people
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from the eikon blog: graphics and god
Tue, Apr 7 2009 11:06 PM
| art, emergent, eikon, graphic design, theology, popular culture
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i just posted another piece on the eikon blog about the intersection of faith and culture concerning motion and print designer barton damer. damer is two things (among many other things): an unbelievably amazing designer and a christ follower. so, i wrote a little about the interplay between the two that is found in his life and work.so, go check it out here!
jesus people and the christian music bubble
Tue, Apr 7 2009 12:03 AM
| recommendations, videos, movies, humor, christian subculture, theology, popular culture
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second only to posts about theology (81 posts), i have blogged about music more than any other topic (68 times to be exact). beyond those hard numbers, it's not difficult for long-time blog readers to gather that i'm what you could call music-obsessed. i love music—music of all kinds. by and large, i'm a fan of just about everything except country music (sorry to my redneck reader contingency out
for the love of big love
Tue, Mar 24 2009 11:33 PM
| recommendations, t.v., theology, favorites, popular culture
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WARNING: IF YOU WATCH BIG LOVE AND HAVEN'T SEEN THE SEASON 3 FINALE YET, YOU MAY NOT WANT TO READ ANY FURTHER.i've talked about big love here at least one other time here on the blog and if you've read it, you know that i'm thoroughly obsessed with it. i blog about it, twitter about it and have incessant conversations with coworkers about it. in all seriousness, i truly love the show. bar none, it's
not so happy anniversary
what were you doing 6 years ago?for me, life looked very different. i was yet to be married. i was still in college. i had little vision beyond the small church in which i was the youth pastor and i was far, far away from having a child, much less multiple children.in the relative grand scheme of things, 6 years isn't a tremendous amount of time, but certainly, it's a long time in terms of how my life
the recession and the affluent church
it only takes about 2 seconds of watching any news channel to receive a panicky reminder of the reality of the recession. likewise, it takes maybe half that time to be reminded about it at church. whether it's a sermon reference or a bulletin announcement or just a couple people having a conversation before the service, the economy is on the mind and lips of people everywhere.to me, the interesting
ash wednesday sacrilege
ok, so hopefully not sacrilege, but we should never take ourselves too seriously.so, today, in fact, is ash wednesday, and i thought i would drop in for a quick little fun post. on a serious note, ash wednesday is something that's only been on my radar for a few years. i grew up in a faith tradition that didn't even acknowledge the concept of ash wednesday. unfortunately, anything that even slightly
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is america a christian nation?
Mon, Feb 23 2009 07:27 PM
| church, christian subculture, theology, politics
| permalink
over the last year or so, religion has been at the forefront of american political discourse. whether it was rev. jeremiah wright, mitt romney's bid to become the first mormon president, sarah palin's prophetic utterances at her wasilla place of worship or the bridge that barack obama erected between frank religious conversation and the democratic party, religion was a central figure in the story of
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new on the eikon blog: culture, christ |||amp; the city
Sun, Feb 22 2009 05:41 PM
| recommendations, personal, eikon, theology, blog stuff
| permalink
quick update: after an almost two week hiatus, i've posted a new bit of blog goodness on the eikon temp site titled, so, what exactly is eikon trying to accomplish? go check it out. it gives a little insight into the gears that are powering and motivating what i'm trying to do with eikon.also, as i begin to talk to more and more people about what we're doing with eikon church, there's more and more
nailing jello to the wall: defining emerging church
Tue, Feb 17 2009 09:35 PM
| videos, personal, church, emergent, christian subculture, theology, worship
| permalink
i've talked before on here about my mixed readership. on one hand, many of you read my blog in order to engage with my theological musings, while others of you could give a rip about this whole jesus thing. undoubtedly, most of you fall somewhere in the middle.for those of you who aren't theology nerds like myself or for those who aren't really connected to the church, maybe you've been scratching
woe to those who have blog synergy
Sat, Feb 7 2009 09:36 PM
| personal, church, emergent, eikon, christian subculture, theology
| permalink
today i had blog post inspiration synergy.this morning: came across luke 6:26: woe to you when all men speak well of you...this afternoon: had a conversation with my mom (of all people...) about a respected friend saying very hurtful and negative things about me to others.tonight: cranked up the ol' ipod, turned it on 'shuffle songs' and up popped derek webb's nobody loves me.synergy, indeed. :)so,
quote of the day
Thu, Feb 5 2009 08:26 AM
| quotes, humor, christian subculture, theology
| permalink
"I have three things I'd like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don't give a shit. What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night."
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tired, worn |||amp; haggard: our brother ted
Tue, Feb 3 2009 09:46 PM
| church, emergent, confessions, christian subculture, theology, politics
| permalink
before the current 15 minutes of media attention of ted haggard disappears, i might as well jump on the blog bandwagon...no, actually, while the blogosphere (and media, in general) have been abuzz about ted haggard and last week's premiere of alexandra's pelosi's hbo documentary, the trials of ted haggard (which, unfortunately, i haven't seen), i've wanted to spend a little time in some serious reflection
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rob bell talks faith and art with patrol magazine
Sun, Feb 1 2009 06:08 PM
| art, emergent, christian subculture, theology
| permalink
the admired/despised/loved/hated/prophet/false prophet/messiah/antichrist rob bell sat down with patrol magazine for a conversation about faith and art. as always, bell has some deeply insightful and introspective commentary concerning these issues (particularly the brief discussion of the needlessly controversial sculpture my sweet lord by new york artist cosimo cavallaro). you can read it in its
saying no to therapeutic self-help theism
worship, in its truest form, has little to do with outward & physical things. certainly, I'm a big believer that our physical senses play a crucial role in engaging a time with god, but those things don't create worship. worship is a state of heart & mind & soul.so, it's with that acknowledgement that I currently sit in the commons area at our church, blogging away on the ol' iphone. after
beware the sound of one hand clapping: intelligent design
Fri, Jan 30 2009 10:43 PM
| reviews, emergent, christian subculture, theology, science, politics
| permalink
this will be the first of a 3 part series of posts titled, beware the sound of one hand clapping. the title comes from a line in the 2007 documentary, expelled: no intelligence allowed. what i'd like to do is offer a very quick intro to the series, present a brief review of the movie and then get into the brunt of the topic.this series spawns from a quote by stephen c. meyer, director and senior fellow
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religion roundup
Tue, Jan 27 2009 11:04 PM
| arkansas, church, humor, christian subculture, theology, websites, politics
| permalink
today there seemed to be several interesting religious stories that caught my attention, so i thought i would do a bit of a roundup here.1. obama's interview on muslim tv: i'm sure you've probably seen this in the news by now, but if not, obama's first formal tv interview as president wasn't with katie couric or brian williams or one of the usual suspects. instead, it was with al-arabiya, a dubai-based
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stockholm syndrome
just a quick note to offer a recommendation to hop over to the eikon blog. a new post just went up called "stockholm syndrome." it's an interesting read about this psychological phenomenon and how it offers an insightful analogy for the current state of the church (and how eikon hopes to be an alternative or reversal of this phenomenon).so, go check it out by clicking here or by clicking on the link/banner
inaugural jesus
Wed, Jan 21 2009 08:07 PM
| videos, church, emergent, christian subculture, theology, politics
| permalink
unfortunately, i wasn't able to steal any time away yesterday to offer some thoughts on the historic magnitude of the day. if you've followed my blog for long, you will know that yesterday was an emotional and proud day for me, having been an obama supporter from literally day one of his candidacy. far beyond people's political affiliations and preferences and loyalties, yesterday was a moment that
quote of the day
Tue, Jan 20 2009 05:01 PM
| church, emergent, eikon, quotes, christian subculture, theology
| permalink
unfortunately, i can't cite the source of this great quote because i saw it on twitter at some point and now i can't locate it. it was retweeted and it wasn't from a person i follow, hence the inability to find the source.one of my guiding life theologies is the implications of incarnational living, modeled after the life of christ. so, i thought this was a really great and beautiful way of talking
introducing eikon church.
in late 2007, our family packed our bags and moved to little rock. our extended family is here. our friends are here. but, ultimately, that isn't why we came.well over two years ago, a small nudge to move back to little rock unexpectedly became an overwhelming and life-changing dream to start a church in the downtown little rock area. knowing the church makeup in little rock, we knew there was a large
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bebo, britney and the cult of celebrity
in our society, we have a very deep fascination with celebrity. we have tv shows about celebrities. we have "mainstream" news that features stories about celebrities. we celebrate people who are famous for just being famous. we lift celebrities up on godlike pedestals. we all, in big or small ways, at times, drink from the cult of celebrity kool-aid.at the same time that we lift up celebrities to
evangelicalism smackdown: the battle for the bible belt
Sun, Jan 11 2009 12:20 PM
| personal, arkansas, church, emergent, little rock, humor, christian subculture, theology, politics
| permalink
there's always those cliché types of comments that people make that lay claim to various assertions. for instance, you'll hear something to the effect of, "oh my gosh, i saw the most hilarious thing last night!" really? it was the most hilarious thing that exists in the pantheon of hilarious things? or, you'll hear people lay claim to such things as, "things have never been this bad, so we must be
five songs that will turn you grey...
Tue, Jan 6 2009 11:17 PM
| recommendations, theology, music
| permalink
i had a strange series of events tonight that led me to sharing this equally strange blog. i had been doing a little reading in the book of lamentations which is something i haven't done in quite a while. if you're not familiar with the book, basically, as the name indicates, it's a series of beautiful poems that were written by the prophet jeremiah (scholars believe) in which he laments over the destruction
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doesn't revel when others grovel...
Mon, Jan 5 2009 10:03 PM
| personal, church, emergent, work, christian subculture, theology
| permalink
let me first say that i don't have many/any rules for my blog. i try not to censor myself and i try to let it be a free-flowing thought stream, of sorts. other than that, really, i don't have any "rules." as close to a rule as i get, though, is a decision to not talk about work-related matters too much. it's no big deal to talk about general work issues, but i make it a rule to never talk about advertisers
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emergent jesus
Mon, Jan 5 2009 12:04 AM
| church, emergent, humor, christian subculture, theology, websites
| permalink
as i've pointed out before on here, i'm very thankful to have a wide array of readers. probably half of you enjoy (and look forward to) reading my blogs that focus on theology, whereas probably the other half of you scroll past those long, theological forays. i'm very thankful for the readership diversity.so, this and what i hope is a series of posts, will probably have very little interest to you
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a savior is born
i would be remissed if, on the eve of the day in which we remember the birth of the savior, i didn't offer a couple thoughts.at christmas, everything is so cliché. it's hard to say anything new and anything that doesn't sound completely corny and overstated. so, i'll offer some 2,000 year-old truths.two thousand years ago, history changed with a baby. god with us. emmanuel. god incarnate. he was born
rick warren, lesbian rock stars and generative friendship
Wed, Dec 24 2008 09:17 PM
| personal, church, emergent, christian subculture, theology, websites, politics
| permalink
for the last week or so, i have watched/read with increasing amazement at the intensity of the rick warren/obama inauguration story. for those who may be hiding under a rock, here's the basic gist of things:rick warren, pastor of saddleback church in southern california, has been invited by barack obama to deliver the prayer of invocation at obama's upcoming inauguration. media/blogosphere/gay community/conservative
theology on tap
Fri, Dec 19 2008 12:29 AM
| church, emergent, little rock, christian subculture, theology
| permalink
if you've been following me on twitter lately, you may have noticed that i've been obsessive with vino's lately. in the last 10 days, i have either eaten there or taken out food 4 times. this is great for my social life, but not so great for the ol' love handles... there's no reason why i've been on this kick, other than once i get something i like, i tend to be drawn there often until i get burned
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penn |||amp; the gideon
yeah, that sounds like some kind of lost bible story just waiting to be discovered in some scroll: penn & the gideon...anyway, most of you know penn jillette, one half of the comedy/magic duo penn & teller. one of the most prominent aspects of his personal (and sometimes professional life) is that he is an ardent atheist. he isn't just your 'hey, i don't believe in god' kind of atheist. he's
more goodness from tony campolo: power vs. authority
Thu, Dec 11 2008 11:53 PM
| recommendations, church, emergent, christian subculture, theology, family
| permalink
recently, i wrote about a podcast with tony campolo in which he contrasted power and love. it was a deeply affective topic for me and his depth and insight carried over into something i heard from him today.i managed to track down an mp3 of a sermon he preached at the denver seminary's chapel service in october. in it, he talked about the difference between power and authority. it's absolutely brilliant
my guiding theologies: scripture
alright, here's part 2 (or 3 if you count the intro...) of my blog series, my guiding theologies. enjoy. (and feel free to comment)statement: scripture: the bible is the foremost guidebook from which flows my understanding of the way i engage others, relate to my wife, raise my children, lead others, interact with christ and inform every other aspect of my life.what: as stated, i view the bible as
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power vs. love: the psychology of a man |||amp; his bride
i am a subscriber/regular listener to tony campolo's podcast, across the pond (here's the itunes link). as i believe i've stated on the blog before, campolo is one of my top few favorite theologians/speakers/authors/etc.—bar none. his thoughts on a number of issues have really helped me to put shape to some of the things that i've been working through over the last 4 or 5 years.today on the podcast,
my guiding theologies: christ
ok, so, if someone could remind never to promise anything in my blog posts, that would be great. as you may recall, in the intro to this blog series, i said that "beginning tomorrow" (which would have been friday) i would be kicking off the series... well, not so much... how about beginning right now??...statement: christ: the life, ministry, mission and values of jesus are the foremost guideposts in
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10 reasons why men should not be church leaders
i blogged about eugene cho's website a couple days ago and upon a return visit, i came across some more thoughts on the need for equality for women in church leadership (and beyond). one of his most visited blog posts is a satirical list of the 10 reasons why men should not be ordained. obviously this is a joke, but it serves to show how ridiculous the arguments against women being able to lead the
UPDATE: mark driscoll: the sad gospel of male chauvinism and female denigration
Fri, Nov 28 2008 04:16 PM
| personal, church, emergent, christian subculture, theology, websites
| permalink
a few weeks ago, i posted this discussion about mark driscoll's proclamation that stay-at-home dads were on a short track to hell (with video). i'm not surprised to find that there's been others in the blogosphere (and beyond) who didn't really receive his commentary with open arms (and rightfully so). honestly, after re-watching the video and re-listening to his thoughts, it makes me even more sad
my guiding theologies: intro
for quite some time, i've wanted to do a series of posts that discuss the core values—the guiding theologies—that guide and shape my life. i prefer to use the words guiding theologies, as opposed to simply core values, because theologies describe the nature of god, of whom we were created to be like. values, often, simply suggest things that we choose, whereas guiding theologies are things that
beautiful summation of the christian faith by tony jones
i don't twitter. if you would have asked me a month ago about twitter, i would have told you how retarded it is...now, though, i'm fighting the urge to jump on board. (don't...do....it...ryan...) i've been casually following a couple people here lately on twitter and i actually came across a very striking and beautiful tweet through tony jones's blog (and you can follow him on twitter here).apparently
advent songs: scrooge, the music snob, approved.
Mon, Nov 17 2008 09:59 PM
| recommendations, emergent, theology, music
| permalink
i've blogged at least a couple times about noisetrade.com and i continue to check regularly (they also have a blog/rss feed if you're interested in keeping up) for new music. if you didn't read about noisetrade, in essence, it's a free/pay-what-you-want music download website. founded by derek webb, it's really a cool way for artists to get their music out and for people to check out some music they
did anybody hear we're gonna have a black president??
so, i'm sitting here watching 60 minutes and it's completely devoted to president-elect obama's first media interview since his victory a couple weeks ago (and michelle obama). all i can think is, 'we have a black president. a black president. this guy is black. and he's the president. of the united states. you know, that united states that wouldn't let black people drink out of the same water fountains
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the real atlas: sad analogous observations
i came across this on telegraph, a news site out of the uk. it's a really fascinating map software that depicts the nations of the world, not by their physical size, but by their demographic importance on a range of subjects. there are some interesting analogous observations that really aren't that difficult to make.as a standard, here's just the standard map that is produced by this software.
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boo on women...
Fri, Nov 14 2008 09:26 PM
| church, emergent, christian subculture, theology
| permalink
...so says the southern baptist convention/lifeway resources. well, to be fair, they're actually saying boo on women pastors and the publishers who choose to feature them on the cover of their magazine. what you see to the right is the cover of the september/october edition of gospel today. their cover story dealt with breaking the glass ceiling of female leadership/pastors within the church. great
mark driscoll: the sad gospel of male chauvinism and female denigration
i just spent literally an hour writing this blog post and when i got done, i decided what i wrote wasn't helpful, at best. so, if you want to read it, you can do so here, but otherwise, here's a much more helpful post:basically, i came across this video today that was posted by mark driscoll (pastor/founder of mars hill church in seattle; author and speaker who is adored by his "charismatic calvinist"
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changeling by clint eastwood
yesterday, christen and finally had a chance to see clint eastwood's new movie, changeling, starring angelina jolie and john malkovich. from the first time i saw this trailer and knew that eastwood was directing, i was looking forward to seeing it. in the past several years, a clint eastwood directed movie probably meant that i would enjoy. particularly in the case of 2003's mystic river and 2004's
great quote
Sun, Nov 9 2008 04:05 PM
| general life, church, emergent, quotes, christian subculture, theology, politics
| permalink
i've heard this many times before, but a pastor at church today used this and it really jumped out to me.politics. religion. relationships. true in any context.when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. —bernard baruch
24 karat bull.
Tue, Nov 4 2008 09:24 PM
| church, emergent, humor, christian subculture, theology, politics
| permalink
it's story time with uncle ryan. gather round kids.once upon a time there were a group of people of god who were living in very dire times. the political climate was uncertain. economically, things were tight and religion was a very divisive issue. in the midst of all these crises, instead of putting their faith in god to see them through, the people turned to a golden cow. they gathered round this
why i can't not vote for obama: a manifesto of hope
Fri, Oct 31 2008 12:24 AM
| personal, church, emergent, christian subculture, theology, family, politics
| permalink
in 5 days, i will go to my local polling station and cast a vote for barack obama for president of the united states of america. a dirty and heated presidential race will finally come to an end.i'm most glad that the hateful and deceptive emails and divisive political climate will somewhat recede. after receiving yet another email full of lies and hate toward barack obama, i felt compelled to sit down
the church, politics and lies
Mon, Oct 20 2008 08:46 PM
| church, emergent, christian subculture, theology, worship, politics
| permalink
it's truly amazing what people will do when they think you're headed straight down the path to hell. in our case, some are under the impression that voting for obama is said path. we've had a couple people in our life, specifically, who have tried various things to make us "see the light" and realize that voting for obama is sinful or, at best, a crime against humanity.yesterday, we were given a small
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church quote
Thu, Oct 9 2008 09:45 PM
| personal, church, emergent, quotes, christian subculture, theology
| permalink
i'll be the first one to admit that i can be one of the biggest critics of the american church. quite frankly, we deserve it. moreover than just criticism, we need is a group of reformers, much like those around 400 years ago, who are bold and committed to truth enough to make some hard statements and challenge believers to make some much-needed changes.anyway, i won't get off on too much of a tangent,
thanks but no thanks, constantine
Sun, Oct 5 2008 09:20 PM
| church, christian subculture, theology, politics
| permalink
warning: the contents of this post will be very nerdy and church history-related. continuing to read this post may result in your perception of me as a really cool, hip, suave, in-the-know guy being severely tarnished... proceed at your own risk.many people in the u.s. see this country as the epicenter for christianity. many of those people would also claim to be living in a "christian nation" and
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healthy, wealthy...and wise?
hey, i don't know if you guys heard or not, but somebody told me something about you and me—you know, taxpayers—giving a bunch of rich white guys at some place called wall street 700 billion dollars... no, no, that's right: 700 billion dollars. oh, you think we should use our taxpayer dollars for ridiculous stuff like healthcare and education and global aids relief. clearly you're retarded. that's
pro life, pro obama
Wed, Oct 1 2008 09:55 PM
| recommendations, personal, emergent, theology, websites, politics
| permalink
a few weeks ago, i blogged about my feelings concerning abortion and my general ethic of life in which i'm pretty sure i just ticked off both sides. some people, in reading that blog and already knowing my feelings about these issues, have questioned my choice to support obama—or any democrat, for that matter. "how could you vote for somebody who wants to kill babies?" (sigh...)well...thanks to my
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plumcots and possibilities
i recently began doug pagitt's new book, a christianity worth believing: hope-filled, open-armed, alive-and-well faith for the left out, left behind, and let down in us all (that's a mouth full...). i hope to get back to it soon (via a little freenobling) because in just getting through the first chapter, there was already so much good stuff.in just the first couple pages of the preface, he offers
find your own calcutta.
recently, tony campolo, on his weekly radio show across the pond (itunes link), sat down with shane claiborne, author of jesus for president and irresistible revolution, for a total of three full episodes. they were so good, i have considered posting them here on the blog. (rather than doing that, though, i would recommend subscribing to the podcast via itunes or via his rss feed.)they discuss quite
why not to be a christian: reason #379
Tue, Sep 23 2008 10:21 PM
| church, humor, christian subculture, theology
| permalink
you know, if the god hates fags people didn't scare you away from being a christian, this will surely send you over the edge...enjoy...or whatever....maybe the fundamentalists are right...dancing should be a sin...or at least this dancing....
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god hates blogs: the scurvy dogs
Tue, Sep 23 2008 06:42 PM
| church, emergent, work, humor, christian subculture, theology, politics
| permalink
ah, the pirates. we can't forget the pirates.the pirates' hilarity was the yin to the westboro crazies' sad yang. oh wait, the westboro people hate china...so forget the chinese philosophy reference...anyway, the pirates completed the circle of absurdity friday and made for a good time. as stated in the first post of this series, the pirates weren't just your average run-of-the-mill wackies who just
god hates blogs: the demigods
Sun, Sep 21 2008 09:08 PM
| church, emergent, work, humor, christian subculture, theology, politics
| permalink
truly, this is sad.it's sad. and it's anti-god.as eager as i was to go see the commotion behind our office, when my coworker told me who was out there, i was almost dreading seeing the reality of the situation. sure, we had a good laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation and at how absurd the westboro baptist people were, but it was still sad and heartbreaking and deflating and embarassing.these
god hates blogs: demigods and scurvy dogs
Sun, Sep 21 2008 02:07 PM
| church, emergent, work, humor, christian subculture, theology, politics
| permalink
as my last blog teased, it was quite the day friday at the office. wow...i honestly don't even know where to begin. to avoid making this a ridiculously long blog, i think i'm going to revert back to the 3-post experiment that i tried last week. most likely, i'll write them all today, but it will at least break them up into digestible chunks. this first post will basically set the scene and be more
god hates upcoming blog teasers.
Fri, Sep 19 2008 11:26 PM
| church, emergent, work, humor, christian subculture, theology, politics, blog stuff
| permalink
ok, quite the day in the neighborhood today... hopefully tomorrow i'll get a chance to write all about it on the ol' blog, but in the meantime, here's a couple pics to serve as a teaser...check back tomorrow!
ray gay (not to be confused with r|||amp;b star ray j...)
Thu, Sep 18 2008 10:18 PM
| church, christian subculture, theology, music
| permalink
there are two types of people in this world: those who give a rat's who ray boltz is and those who don't.ok, so maybe there's more than two types, because i happen to fall into the category of "knows ray boltz's music, but wishes they didn't...". i assume that probably about 75% of the people who read this blog don't have any clue who ray boltz is and the remaining 25% would know him if i mentioned
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a generous paradoxy: an inconsistent truth
Sat, Sep 13 2008 04:12 PM
| church, christian subculture, theology, politics
| permalink
this is the third of a series of 3 blogs titled, a generous paradoxy. if you missed the first 2 posts, you can catch up here and here.****************************let me begin by unequivocally stating something: i am passionately opposed to abortion.i value life—born and unborn. i believe that life begins at conception (i could actually argue that it begins long before that, but that's another conversation
a generous paradoxy: i pledge allegiance?
Tue, Sep 9 2008 07:57 PM
| church, christian subculture, theology, politics
| permalink
a couple days ago, i began a 3-part series called a generous paradoxy with peace through weakness. in continuing with that theme, i wanted to share about something i saw here in little rock last week.while driving down i-430, one cannot miss a particularly imposing church. it's unnecessary and helpful to say who it is, but let's just say it's a very prominent church in little rock with several thousand
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truth/Truth
one of my values in ministry and life, in general, is that we do ourselves, others and god a disservice when we seek truth only in "sacred" things. sometimes profound truth comes in packages that look more "profane" than "sacred."in talib kweli's give 'em hell, there's a powerful line for which i created a little artwork. i used it as a desktop wallpaper for a while and it created quite the conversations...
worship
this morning at church, we really had an incredible worship time. it was particularly good to have dr. fitz hill (president of arkansas baptist college and former razorback football assistant head coach) as the speaker. he was very engaging and spoke from the heart about the revitalization of arkansas baptist college. arkansas baptist was on the brink of closing and dr. hill has come in and really
would it be wrong to pray for irony?
Sun, Aug 31 2008 04:57 PM
| humor, christian subculture, theology, politics
| permalink
maybe you've seen this video:a couple weeks ago, this was put out by our prayerful friends at focus on the family. (because of the backlash, they quickly took it down from their website). wow...yeah... you know, i'm not even going to go into how fundamentally wrong this is and how, arguably, sinful this is (using god and misusing prayer for our selfish and malicious desires), but i wanted to point
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if all else fails...
...and this pastoring/church planting gig falls through, i now know that i can turn to professional modeling...yeah, so this is jay bakker, pastor of revolution church in brooklyn. i guess now that he's in new york, he's hit the big time. :) he is currently featured in an ad campaign by kenneth cole called "we all walk in different shoes" (also featuring matisyahu and others).if you don't know anything
don miller prayer at the dnc
tonight, the democratic national convention kicked off in denver. this morning, on the relevant podcast, relevant publisher cameron strang talked about turning down the invitation to give the benediction at the dnc tonight (monday) immediately after michelle's obama's keynote (in other words, on prime-time national television). i won't explain the whole series of events here, but you can read about
the dangerous power of labels
lately, i've been experiencing a little frustration about a recent conversation of which i was a part. this conversation, while significant, was merely a symbol of a growing frustration i've had for awhile. now, i will pause and say, for those who don't know me all that well, that not many things bother me or get to me. and in this case, it isn't like i'm losing sleep or have some kind of deep-seeded
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god the mother? nooma she | 021 rob bell
Wed, Aug 20 2008 09:52 PM
| church, movies, emergent, christian subculture, theology, favorites
| permalink
several years ago, i had the opportunity to read good news for women: a biblical picture of gender equality by rebecca merrill groothuis. i would highly recommend this book, especially if you struggle or are just downright opposed to female leadership within the church. growing up, i never saw women in church leadership and i was always a little confused about that. i just assumed that that was "correct",
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screw it: the story of a man, an elevator and a burkha
Thu, Aug 14 2008 11:15 PM
| general life, personal, humor, theology
| permalink
the curse of a pastor is that every event in your life is just a sermon illustration waiting to happen. well, today one happened. a great one.so, today i went to hang out with rob at the hospital, who is currently being held hostage on the 6th floor (with the rest of the cancer captives). so, upon entering the hospital, i stepped into an elevator and found myself alone in the car (is the elevator thing
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instead of a show by jon foreman
i'm getting ready to write a review of jon foreman's (lead singer of switchfoot) four ep seasonal series, fall, winter, spring & summer (maybe i'll get it up in a day or two...). until then, though, i had to share a song from the latest of the four, summer. the song's called instead of a show and it has some pointed lyrics, to say the very least. i won't say too much now, but you can read the
simple, yet profound
at this point, this is old news, but i've been debating whether not to post this. this felt a little too personal and it seemed like a violation to obama, but i think it delivers a simple, yet profound statement that is worth reading. some cynical people will view this as just a marketing ploy by obama, but either way, it's difficult to not be moved by this prayer.basically, last week, during a middle
ed stetzer quote
Wed, Jul 30 2008 02:51 PM
| church, christian subculture, theology
| permalink
great quote from ed stetzer today:sometimes the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of change.
springfield and me, the giddy obama stalker
ok, so remember when i said that i was going to try to blog every day of my trip here in springfield... yeah, not so much. oh well. alas, i find myself here in the university plaza in springfield about 7 hours away from the conclusion to our little excursion.which brings me to the most important update of the week. the university plaza that i am referencing is the same one that a certain democratic
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gay divorce?
Fri, Jul 18 2008 06:09 PM
| church, emergent, christian subculture, theology
| permalink
i'm a [semi] regular reader of dan kimball's blog and he has recently begun a good (and foreseeably much-needed) conversation concerning gay marriage and divorce. dan lives and pastors in santa cruz, california, where gay marriage was recently legalized. since that time, many gay couples have taken the trip down the proverbial aisle. in a post-worship gathering open forum, someone submitted the following
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heresy and can lights
Mon, Jul 14 2008 08:23 PM
| church, emergent, christian subculture, theology
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yesterday morning, our family visited crossbridge church where my uncle, ron byrd, is the church planter and pastor. in keeping with the curse of being a pastor who is not currently pastoring, listening to sermons is primarily a launching point for my own sermon ideas. typically, it's not a thing of me thinking, 'hey, i need to rip off this sermon,' but more of a thing where some little side note or
pay phones and the emerging church
i am currently reading tony jones' new book the new christians: dispatches from the emergent frontier (thanks to christen and lucy for the father's day gift...) and having just barely cracked the book, i've already found something that was very profound and a great analogy to help communicate the necessity of the emergent conversation.i thought it might be most helpful to just copy his analogy verbatim
speck in your brother's eye
Sun, Jun 22 2008 08:54 PM
| christian subculture, theology
| permalink
notice that, by far, the gayest thing in this poster is the guy who hates gay people:1. toga2. awkward rear embrace3. molestacheunbelievable...UPDATE: ok, so come to find out after talking to the friend who originally sent me the link to this image, the title speck in your brother's eye is more appropriate than what i realized... apparently this guy donnie davies is a "recovering" homosexual...whatever
almost-god
i have to confess to something that is really pathetic. i'm calling it freenobling. here's how it works: you go to barnes and noble, find a comfortable chair and begin reading a book. repeat as needed to finish said book. yes, indeed. freeloading at its best. so, i'm currently anticipating trip #4 in which i will continue to read shane claiborne's new book jesus for president. in just under a hundred
classic christianese moment
Wed, Jun 11 2008 10:33 PM
| emergent, christian subculture, theology
| permalink
wow. classic exchange tonight.i've been wanting to read tony jones' new book the new christians since it came out recently. tonight, i decided to go get it. i went to a couple bookstores and they either didn't have it or it cost more than what i wanted to pay, so i went to the third option to see if they had it. i won't name the place, but let's just say it's a large christian bookstore chain and it's
theology
Sat, Jun 7 2008 10:56 PM
| theology, blog stuff
| permalink
so i decided to take a stroll down memory lane tonight and go through my myspace blog archives. (yeah, by the way, i've had a myspace blog for a couple years...you should check them out for a little ryan byrd history lesson...)(also, i will probably be reviving some of my old blog posts here just because i think they're still relevant and i want to make sure they stick around in the event that tom
