Dr. Donald A. Carson is a name most of us don't know; he's a professor in New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity in Illinois. He's a distinguished writer and evangelical voice. He's also recently written a book about the emerging church. And to say that he is critical may be an understatement.

Here's the thing... all things that have created change within the church for the past 2000 years have been opposed. While gathered with friends in Santa Fe last week, I heard much talk about listening to voices that push against us. That's good wisdom. We need people to push back.

We also need to know that God has been in our midst over the past decade as the Spirit has prepared our hearts, minds, and lives for living a gospel message that is dangerous, a gospel message that conflicts with what we have been swallowing for much of our lives.

As followers of Jesus >>>
God has called us to be 'set apart.' He's called us to be apprentices of his Son. He's called us to push against the status quo and to be peacemakers and lovers of people.

Let us go forward. While listening to the voices of such people as Carson, let us be reminded that as lovers of Jesus, we are called to be 'one.' Unity among believers is not an option for the church of Christ. For those who have learned to embrace denominations and division for the sake of 'truth,' we can only say, "Go get 'em." For those of us who really believe that unity is not optional, let us go forward, knowing full well that the risen Jesus prayed that we would have the same unity that he experienced with the Father & Spirit.

For all the crap we get, and for those of you who have been called heretics, I simply encourage you to go forward. There is a sweet, sweet spirit in the air... (pause) The Spirit IS in our midst.

Shalom.

Emergent gathering in Santa Fe...

Kathy and I returned to Glorieta, New Mexico for the second year of gathering as 'friends' of Emergent. It was good; it was excellent. The food, drinks, and weather were all typical of the area. The friends were even better...

It is an incredibly good experience when people gather knowing that a living passion for Jesus is beyond question for their lives. At the same time, all questions, all thoughts, all ideas about how to increasingly follow Jesus are open to discussion and deep thought.

Without writing about every detail of the gathering, I describe it this way...

It was about brothers and sisters in Christ gathering for the sake of learning how to better love Jesus.

At the end of the week, we left one another having experienced deep friendships, incredible vulnerability, deep love for one another, and stories about the Spirit in our midst.

For pasts of four days we lounged around tables, and we ate and drank with the aromas of fresh bread and the best of wines lingering in the air and their flavors resting on our tongues.

The Pastor?

I was in the locker room with a bunch of pastors the other day, and I overheard a bit of conversation about 'job descriptions' and the need for churches to have a 'senior pastor.'

It's been three years since I was a part of the traditional church, and the entire conversation seemed odd. I am beginning to believe that we need those things only because we've forsaken much of the servant role that Jesus embodied. Neither concise job descriptions nor the directorship of senior pastors are significantly important if we are foremost about the things of Jesus.

And here is another thought that is brewing in my mind... The other day I led a seminar on 'Helping Your Youth Pastor Succeed.' The whole thing went well, but now I am wondering why we have given God's people (other than pastors) the title of 'volunteers.'

I wonder if the term demeans those who are actively involved with the organized church?
I wonder if it suggests that they have a choice if they want to be involved?

It seems that people who are serious about following Jesus would have a necessary need to be involved. It seems involvement, to some degree, reflects the condition of one's passion for Christ. Perhaps we should consider this term 'volunteers' and replace it with something more biblical, something more life-giving?

~The McLaren Library~

I noticed today on Brian McLaren's website that Off the Map has made available a collection of there times together. There are links of video, audio and articles that has been made available. I watched a couple of the videos today and the quality is great. Check it out, I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Click here for a link to the video files.

I found the the content of this post at David Finch's blog this morning. Thanks David!

Where is our hope?

Reflecting on what I posted last night in regard to politics and gospel, and thinking about what our community is looking at Sunday night ( I Peter 1:13-25), I ran across the following:

"Through him (Jesus) you believe in God, who raised him fro the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God." (vs 21)

So, what would it look like if our hope was entirely in God and not in nations or political candidates? When the Israelites were looking for political strength, they entirely missed the physical presence of God in their midst. Are we doing the same kind of thing?

Is our hope really in God? Certainly a question that still rings true today.